S4253 The Flying Duck (Harvey Nichols)

Shopping centre number four - the Dundrum Town Centre - and not the pub I was intending to go to initially. There is a branch of the Musgrave-owned Donnybrook Fair supermarket chain here which holds a full pub licence, covering its restaurant and off-licence. The restaurant closes at 4. 

It was about 4:05 when I arrived, and it was very, very closed.

But that is not the only pub in the centre (by any means - there's six licences of varying types here) and not the only one I hadn't visited either. Another I had yet to visit is the often closed, frequently rebranded 'restaurant' in Harvey Nichols

The current incarnation of this is the Flying Duck, run as part of a chain by actor and publican Gary Whelan, of S0120 Whelans fame. However, a few days prior to me turning up in Dundrum, Gary's two other Duck pubs had closed and called creditors meetings. One of these, S0281 Dalkey Duck, reopened immediately (as in hours) after said creditors meeting, but the 1014978 Wild Duck is still closed. But the Flying Duck was unaffected by this.

Now, this may entirely be down to the time I visited, but I have to wonder if the Flying version of the ducks will also be affected at some point, as I was the only customer in the entire pub the entire time I was there. Which was about 40 minutes, on a busy Saturday.

Harvey Nicks had plenty of customers, when I went out through it. S4289 PMacs on the ground floor of the shopping centre had plenty of customers. There was nothing wrong with my cocktail, or with the polite staff, or the pleasant surroundings, or the copious signage (including, as far as I remember, duck webbed foot print stickers up the staircase although maybe they were just normal footprints) telling you the bar was there.

My Manhattan was fine and reasonably priced for where we were. I do hope this place gets more customers at other times.

Also, despite the Avios rules for Harvey Nicks spending specifically excluding all bars, restaurants and cafes, I got 4 Avios per euro on top of the one per four I normally get. I think this may be the only Avios-earning bar in the entire country.

S2186 Ollies Bar

A single storey pub? With a (partially) flat roof? In a shopping centre, opposite a council estate?

If you listen to all the "don't drink in a pub with X" claims, I should have run as far as possible from this pub, which sits behind the Balally Shopping Centre. But I went in, and it was fine.

The pub was very busy, astoundingly warm, and extensively decorated for Halloween when I visited. In keeping with the season, I managed to give someone a brief scare while here - and not from a costume. 

As I may have mentioned before, I am of what was once considered abnormal height, and while there's now piles of teenagers the same height as me, they aren't old enough to drink yet. A slightly awkward toilet door arrangement here caused me to open the door inwards just as someone was about to push it, and the surprise at the door going away from him and A Giant appearing from behind it caused him to recoil sufficiently that his glasses fell off the top of his head. They weren't broken, not that I could really be at fault for being Quite Large.

I'd say the bulk of the people in the lounge were there for the carvery offering, and I should probably have stuck my head in to the bar too - but I'm more of a lounge dweller and I can't realistically have two pints in every pub either.

1006937 Noosh Cafe Bar / Zaytoon

Including this as being part of my Shopping Centre Series is a bit of a cheat - you have to walk through an apartment block to get here. But The Beacon is The Beacon, and I'm considering it part of the retail offering here.

So - what would you expect when Ireland's most famous kebab shop chain (who serve only halal food) takes over an empty, Celtic Tiger era pub in an outer suburban shopping centre? I don't think "retain a pub as an important part of the premises" is going to be top of the list, but that is what has happened here.

Zaytoon operate from the ground floor of this.... interesting looking copper-roofed structure, which was once simply known as Copper Bar; but the basement is now operated as the Noosh Cafe Bar.

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Noosh opens at 5pm every day, something I forgot to check before visiting. However, with some free tables in the restaurant, there was no issue in having the staff descend in to the depths and obtain me a pint - I may have had trouble had the restaurant been closer to full as I doubt they would have turned on the basement lights for me hours before normal operating times.

I didn't really experience the actual pub here by any means, but this isn't the easiest place to get to give a return visit a go - and I have had a drink on the premises. That'll do for a tick.

1015031 Elephant & Castle Sandyford

Shopping Centre #2, and a "pub" I really wish wasn't a pub. Maybe, just maybe, if the proposed licencing reforms do dispose of the principle of licence surrender, I can be more selective about what is a pub from the hopefully rapid growth in premises with a normal pub licence.

But, for now, yet-another-Elephant-and-Castle is a normal 7 Day Ordinary pub, and tick it I must. A chore made easier by there being plentiful seats inside this outpost of the chain.

This time I had eggs benedict. And a pint, clearly. 

S3252 The Gallops

It was never my intention to do a themed ticking trip, but shortly after getting to the furthest out, and hence first, pub of the day I realised that I was about to visit a series of pubs in shopping centres. 

Dublin's shopping centres have often included pubs - things you'd identify as a pub rather than just places with pub licences at that - from the days of the first modern shopping centres in the 60s. Stillorgan SC had a Madigans in what I think is the now the Brambles cafe upstairs; although this is long gone; and only planning issues prevented a huge Madigans opening in Nutgrove when new.

Some other early shopping centres have shed their pubs, e.g. the multiple premises in Dun Laoghaire SC which replaced the pubs that were demolished to enable its construction are all now closed. But others still remain, and even persist in newer build shopping centres.

And The Gallops is one of these, being part of the Leopardstown Valley shopping centre, and also right beside the Leopardstown Village one - which is far less village like. 

A large pub with a tiny selection of taps - I think I counted seven unique offerings - and heavily themed around the nearby racecourse (as if the name didn't give you a hint). It was early enough in the day that only a few regulars were in, having a familiar conversation with the bar staff - despite being in a shopping centre, this pub definitely has regulars.

N0027 Annesley House

One of my odder omissions considering how often I have passed it in the past, particularly when working in East Wall or East Point for an entire decade over two employers. 

The main room of this pub features a large U shaped bar, and unfortunately for an asthmatic like me, there's a bit of black mould on the ceiling in a few places there and in the toilets. In another circumstance where it wasn't potentially going to screw up my breathing, the cheap enough pints and lively atmosphere would not turn me away from coming back here.

There seems to be a decent, small, gig space upstairs - a dying presence in Dublin pubs these days.

N0148 Meaghers

This pub got somehow missed when cleaning up this area when I worked nearby, as also happened to my next visit. But I've got them now.

I was not expecting this pub to be quite so huge. When I visited, the front bar was out of action but the vast, vast lounge out the back was open. And serving about four customers. 

I imagine that match day traffic - Croke, Tolka and maybe even Parnell Park; gigs, and the increased traffic to Clontarf on summer days could fill out the lounge. Indeed, amongst the greebling on the walls was an old CIE poster advertising travel for matches

Over 5 years now since I left CIE (for a contractor but I had staff ID and a https://t.co/X9K8tQ7V2P email). Still think the Flying Snail should have been used more often pic.twitter.com/aCas95sZ6m

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) September 10, 2023

Ended up having a good and rather rambling chat with one of those four customers, and even that rarest of rare things when out ticking - a second pint. Although I went to the clearly moving Guinness, as it seemed none of the others were drinking Smithwicks and it tasted a tad the worse for (non?)wear as a result