Revisited Pubs: March 2022

Its nearly time to do the April list, which caused me to find I hadn't done the March one to begin with!

N0312 Coachmans Inn - funeral afters had me rather off my beaten track here; but I had been before.

N0002 Madigans Connolly

1017068 RascalsHQ - I've just realised I've no visit writeup here as my first, and possibly second visit happened when it was a restaurant. I'll fix that.

1016228 The Mayson

N2704 Deputy Mayor

I've previously written about how "estate pub" is bordering on a slur in England, but doesn't really have the same meaning here. This needs to be mentioned again, as the Lord Mayor is very much an estate pub, but also not to the English meaning.

Situated in the Meakstown area of Finglas, this pub was built in 2005 when much new housing was built in this area, and is directly across the road from the Meakstown shopping centre that was built in the same general time period. 

The pub takes its name from the then recently held political position of its owner, former Labour Councillor Brendan Carr - he has since been the actual Lord Mayor but has not upgraded the pubs name! In a slight oddity, the pub is located just within Fingal, whereas Brendan was a Dublin City Councillor and hence Deputy Mayor/Lord Mayor of Dublin City.

Some stuff I found when looking up background info suggests there was a refit done here during lockdown, and the pub does indeed look in very good nick inside and out. I had lunch here, which was surprisingly expensive, but quite good - at least as good as it needed to be for the price. 

N1119 Castle Inn

The former Long Mile Inn, this premises had recently enough closed when I did my trip to the pubs of this end of Drimnagh, so its reopening created a blue pin on the map I use for my own trip planning (not the same as The Map of all pubs) against a surround of green. However, opportunities for pub bagging have been limited recently with work, eventually catching COVID and house renovations amongst other things, so my usual individual trips to "correct" / catch reopenings and new pubs have been rare.

However, I've now made it.

The pub has been renovated inside and out - albeit ignoring the de-Beamish'ed clock which shows two incorrect times - to a high standard.

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The interior could be seen as faux-old, but this pub isn't particularly new itself. It became the Long Mile Inn in the mid-late 70s, but traded previously as Slatterys, probably opening in 1956. 

This Slatterys was a small chain of pubs in 50s/60s - I don't know if they are connected to any of the other pubs with this name, but none of them are called Slatterys now - and while "Slatts" (126a Tyrconnell Park) must have got its name there, its licenced to a Noonan. One of these is now a Tesco!

Slatterys pub list - Irish Independent, October 29th, 1963

Back in the present, the pub trades with a large bar and large lounge, and an upstairs/outdoor seating area. The food operation would appear to be a franchise, as there are separate ordering and payment systems, but this isn't all that uncommon in suburban pubs.

There are better known pubs in Drimnagh, which I've written up before their change in ownership, and didn't like to begin with... so its really between N1118 Halfway House and here; and while the Halfway gets points for having Macardles (or at least it did when I was there - quite some time ago), the Castle feels nicer over all.

Every Pub In... Arranmore

Welcome to the second in a rare series where I try to document all the pubs somewhere in a single day. Having done (or failed to do, looking at it another way) Dungloe a few weeks ago when storms affected my weekend; this time I drove up rather than face Dublin Airport's security queues. And while driving and pub bagging are incompatible, I was able to park up and do this the next day - and drive home two days later!

Arranmore currently has six licenced premises. I have now drunk in all of them, but I can't document all in this post.

The first problematic premises is LEP015 Killeens Hotel - up for sale for some years, it is not currently trading. I last drank here in ~2016. If anyone wants to run a 24 bed hotel, please study the sale (or rent, as I now notice) documents. 

The second problematic premises is LEP431 Smugglers Nite Club. I also last drank here in ~2016, and would have gone back - except it rarely opens before midnight. There is a conventional bar (the Seaview Bar) attached to the club, but it has not opened regularly for decades (as far as I'm aware, but I have been in it); and I wasn't up for turning an afternoons drinking in to an exceptionally late night. 

This leaves me with four operating premises. When I was a kid, there was a seventh pub - Pallys - but it closed for good in 2002. There was another pub in the 60s/70s - Proctors - in the "factory" - a Gaeltarra Eireann facility in a former dance hall which still exists now as the community centre, sans licence.

[not sure] Neilys

My local up here. My Grandads local til he stopped being able to go to the pub (in ~2005). In the middle of the island, there was an adjoining shop here until Summer 2021 and this was where my interactions with it as a kid were. Neilys now manages to succesfully ride the line between being a locals pub most of the year, and the coolest place on the island when there's lots of tourists and holiday home owners in during the summer - cocktails, craft beer and a pizza van in summer give way to pints and football on Sky in the winter. I started and ended the days trip here - being closest to my house and on the way to and from anywhere else. 

Neilys appears on the licence registers as LEO002 - an off-licence code, and recorded as a spirits off licence; and I've never seen its pub licence recorded, but a pub it absolutely is so this is likely a Revenue issue - some Dublin pubs have been unlisted for years. Neilys is the most modern looking and feeling of any of the pubs and worth the walk in to the middle of the island.

1009262 Phil Bans 

The only pub I hadn't yet drunk in, despite often being in it as a kid - and always using its shop. Right on the beach near the ferry, I suspect that Phils gets the bulk of the lazier tourists, and is a decent pub despite never having fallen to my drinking patterns before. A larger front room is somewhat divided off from a back room that often matches the surface of the sun in air temperature - due to a turf fire - which has waves almost lapping against its windows at spring tides. Phil Bans shop fed my Irn Bru and McDaids Banana consumption as a child - I only took to Football Special as a teenager. 

For whatever historical reason, like Neilys the shop has its own spirits only off-licence with the fantastic licence number of LEO001 - Letterkenny court area, off-licence, licence number one

LEP014 The Glen Hotel

Paging Francis Brennan....   After nearly a century operating as a hotel, there is a need for significant investment in facilities and services here. Unbeatable beer garden when the weather suits, though.

LEP013 Earlys Pier Bar

The place that gave Daniel O'Donnell his start, and the only pub that consistently has food available all year (as of the time of posting this). We got a decent dinner here; and left just as a huge hen night arrived for theirs - thankfully. Jerry Early is very active in promoting the island for tourism; and supporting the remaining commercial fishermen, so this is the pub that most media people end up going to. With a small front bar and a large performance space out back, this pub is least like the others - which are all really single room affairs, albeit maybe big rooms (Neilys) or with a divider nearly splitting them (Phil Bans). Earlys has been modernised significantly in recent years, albeit not the level of Neilys

April 2022 licence update

Decent number of changes this month:

Additions:

1018822 Wellington Hotel, Wellington Quay - this is a renovation and upscaling of a prior guesthouse and restaurant (the Eliza Lodge / Italian Corner); not a new hotel as such. May not be open just yet.

1018663 Lennans Yard - new restaurant on Dawson Street

Renumbered:

1018851 formerly S3352 - Merrion Hotel, Merrion Street.

Reappearing:

N2528 formerly Jack O'Neills, Tyrrellstown - cannot find if anything is open here or not though.

S0195 Farmer Browns Clonskeagh

This branch of the pub-and-restaurant chain Farmer Browns was formerly the Clonskeagh House pub, and some signs inside and out still reflect this. Quite busy, I got what seemed to be the last internal table - which I wouldn't recommend as being great for eating, at least when you're 6'4" - it was a barrel with high stools beside the bar; but which would be fantastic for just drinking at - and there's a decent range of draught here.

With the previous pub - Ashtons - so close up the road and both pushing the idea of being a gastropub; comparisons have to be made. Going on obvious factors - the number of customers, the range of product and the competence of the staff - were all significantly higher in Farmer Browns. Customers are choosing this over the neighbour, and I'd agree with them. There may have been a slight distortion factor that specific evening from Farmer Browns having a large carpark, and there being maybe a minibus of Finn Harps fans there for the UCD game (of which I was one, albeit arriving on Dublin Bus), but that amounted to a small fraction of the total customer base.

On the staff thing, I noted that the uniform appeared to require white runners for bar staff. Anyone who has worked in a bar, or even just been in a bar for long enough will know that this is a very strange decision and that even the most dedicated sneakerhead isn't going to keep white runners clean in that environment. Any other colour of runners will obviously get the same amount of gank on them but just not show it.... but this is a very odd aside.

The food was good, albeit what I ordered was not what I thought it was - entirely my fault misremembering what something actually was and not asking or checking. In the old days, S0253 The Goat was my usual pre-Belfield pub; but its been a long time since I worked on that side of the city, so this will probably be my replacement.

Pub Pipeline 2022

Decided it was worth noting down pubs / bars I believe are likely to (re)open in the short to medium term in Dublin:

N0869 Donaghmede Inn - a very early Lockdown casualty - reopening expected before Christmas

Handels Hotel - bar (formerly S3234 Oscars Cafe Bar) has been closed for years, but will reopen as Messiah shortly

Press Up - Leinster Hotel replacing the former S0149 Howl At The Moon

Press Up - Clerys bar in former Clerys development

S0144 Becky Morgan's - new owners announced on Instagram. Think this has only been closed for a relatively short time.

Tailors Hall, Back Lane - new restaurant to open soon already has a full pub licence on the register

O'Connors, Crumlin - portion of the Submarine/O'Connors complex at the Ashleaf S/C appears to be reopening after some years

Longer term:

Brewdog #2 - Charlemont Square - was expected Autumn 2022, but has some planning permission issues and could lag

Wetherspoons - Aston Quay - old USIT office

Press Up - former S4389 Buck Whaleys / Stone Leaf

Premier Inn - Clery Hotel to the rear of the Clerys redevelopment

Murray Group - renovation/reopening of former N0077 Out On The Liffey / Fibbers Rock Bar (not the main Fibbers)

S1593 Cuckoos Nest - new planning to reopen pub here, with apartments above

Opened:

S0143 "Thomas Rody Mahers" by Press Up, the former Larry Murphys on Baggott Street

S2738 "The Bar" - former TGI Fridays Stephens Green, run by Slatterys of Capel Street

N0302 Arch Bar - former Star, Swords (thanks to William in the comments for this)

1019034 Samuel Bar & Grill - Samuel Hotel, Spencer Dock. 

N1130 The Foxhunter, Lucan by Press Up

S3840 All My Friends, Meath Street - Formerly S3840 Graingers - significant renovation and re-targetting

N0022 Hill 16 - reopened after multi year closure

S1088 Maldron Merrion Road - replacing hotel for the Tara Towers, opened early August with a bar

N0020 Juno - Replaced the closed Red Parrot on Dorset Street

1009755 The Blackrock - reopening of 1009755 Three Tun Tavern

1008963 Tapped - refurb/rebrand of 1008963 Porterhouse Central

Hampton by Hilton, Chancery Street - has a bar, not sure if public?

Kodiak - new sister pub for N0192 Bonobo in what was S0237 Copan

The Saint - League of Ireland / St Pats themed pub in replacing N1115 Timothy Croughs, Inchicore

Underdog - relocated to the bar of N0060 Legal Eagle

Big Mikes Blackrock - fully pub licenced restaurant in Blackrock Shopping Centre

Greedy Eagle - Loyola Group renovation/rebrand of the *other* 1013026 Eagle House

Coopers Corner - replacing S1491 Murrays of Bow Bridge, Kilmainham

Pye Dundrum - new pub from Refresh/Oscars Group replacing S0250 Eagle House

Fidelity - Whiplash Brewing / Big Romance pub replacing N0215 Dice Bar