Stats update

I've finally coded my spreadsheets a bit better so that I can get accurate counts of where I've been; and I've made a few decisions to drop implausible (residents bars) and very mobile (trains and planes) licences - so for the first time - here's an accurate set of figures:

Currently there are 993 premises which have had a licence recorded in the past year. There are a further 13 that I believe are currently trading but which have not been recorded - there are multiple reasons this can occur.

I have drunk in 192 of these to date; 43 since I began the blog. I estimate I've re-visited about 10 of the 149 that predate the blog during this time period - mainly to N0006 Brew Dock and N2168 Epicentre due to where I work.

50 of those that I have not drunk in are either currently closed, secondary licences (theatre licence for the same premises as has a hotel or pub licence) or impossible (former pubs being used as off-licences, or a demolished building). There may be some further close that I am not aware of.

N2298 Wigwam

Recently reopened and renamed, the former Twisted Pepper (and even more former Traffic) is more of a complex of premises than a single pub - currently hosting a coffee shop, a barbers and a costume shop; and previously having had other brands in it. These continued to operate during the period the bar was closed.

This is another premises I thought I would have been to - as Traffic it used to host a number of club nights with DJs I would go to see, but I never did. It hosts less music events now than before, and is run more as a bar and restaurant however some still remain.

This is also part of a small chain of bars, Bodytonic, who started as a music promoter but now have 5 bars across the city. Offering a small enough but varied range of draught beer including Bodytonic's own products, rum is promoted as the main attraction here - giving Abbey Street two different spirit themed bars!

Was quite enough for a Thursday night, with seats/tables still available but is very busy on weekends.

N2540 The Church

I didn't like this place much.

Formerly St Mary's COI church, this closed in 1986 and was a wallpaper shop and later a discount bookshop before being converted.

Not the only COI premises in the city centre to become a pub/nightclub (St George's on Hardwicke Place was the now closed Temple Theatre), this one has the proud claim of having being the wedding venue for Arthur Guinness. Indeed, I suspect that may be why it sells Guinness and Guinness alone from outside the C&C product range - everything else on draught is Bulmers, Five Lamps or a product C&C import which is very rare to see. Another possibility is that they don't actually have a stout.

I don't think I'll be returning - it felt like a bit of a throwback to 2005/6 inside and generally not what I'm looking for in a pub.

N1080 TP Smiths

This pub has "Established 2000" on the doors, but there was a pub on this site for a long time before that - and I think its the original building. If it is, its the only original building left on this section of Jervis Street, and the only one that isn't a grand imposing structure like the former hospital or St Marys Church.

This was a relatively brief visit, and for odd reasons - a regular who was sitting near me had a steak delivered that smelled so delicious that I felt I had to leave for reasons of my own wasteline! Particularly as I was due to eat somewhere else soon enough after.

This is part of another small pub chain, Smiths, who have some better known pubs in Temple Bar (Norseman and Auld Dubliner)

N1064 The Oval

This is one of the few very central pubs that aren't massive modern bars, and I was surprised myself that I'd never actually been in. Claiming to be the longest licenced premises on Abbey Street and rebuilt after the Rising, its a nice "Victorian" (1920s rebuild) pub. No problems getting seats at 5 on a Thursday, but I think it'd be a lot busier on weekends. Owned by Charlie Chawke, its definitely the cosiest of his chain that I've been to so far.

S0022 The Workshop

Somehow I never went in here when it was Kennedy's. Having been very much an auld lads pub until it was flooded and refurbished, Kennedy's had quite a reputation and was missed when it shut down. Reopened now as a gastro pub, I imagine it attracts a very different crowd now.

Jumped in for a quick one or two while waiting for a train. Pub was relatively quiet; but food service was over so this is to be expected. Interesting if limited range of beer on draught, friendly staff (who even warned of the fairly normal southside prices on more expensive pints!), nice atmosphere.

I'd actually intended to go in to O'Reillys/Sublounge under the station instead but realised the door to The Workshop was closer to the exit. Laziness prevailed!

S0291 Dark Horse

Another Blackrock pub and another Galway Bay Brewery bar - this one the most different of all I've been to yet.

Much more food focused, with an off-licence attached and a small selection of macro beers on tap (all their Dublin bars outside the canals do this, I believe). Has obvious regulars and things you expect to see in a local - the leaderboard for a last man standing was in the bar. I think it had TVs - something some other GBB bars only have during very major sporting events - Brew Docks TV was removed again after Ireland went out of Euro 2016!

Galway Bay used to have 4 bars in Galway and 4 in Dublin at one stage but now have 2 in Galway and a whopping 9 in Dublin, all somewhat different. As with the others, this premises was already a bar - the Avoca - which had closed.

Grabbing a pint here gets me somewhat closer to finishing the chain - I imagine I'll get to all GBB premises before I finish the set of Wetherspoons, Mercantile or Louis Fitzgerald pubs.