N1422 Leonards

"Regulars Only" is something you'd think I might hear from door staff occasionally doing this - but I don't, because I usually go during the day when there aren't any.

In the case of Leonards, it was written on the doors instead. But considering the pub advertises its daytime food offerings extensively - social media posts as well as signs outside - I just pretended I temporarily couldn't read and went on in. And was served without proving any regular status.

This ticking trip was on Good Friday, a day on which I have little experience of the potential crowds - we've only had a few that we can drink on, with a pandemic in the interim; and I think this is my first ticking day on a Good Friday. From this pub on, there was a noticeable element to the Good Friday crowd -  tradesmen who have done a mornings work and knocked off early for the long weekend - with a table of Des Kelly fitters having a fried lunch amongst the customers here.

The "Regulars Only" sign is clearly there for a reason; I am guessing relating to weekends and evenings; but there seems to be no problem popping in here during the day to try stake out your regular status. This is very much an "estate pub", but in the Irish tradition - it is in a housing estate, it is in a shopping centre; but it has a pitched roof (well, it has a mansard roof - but its not a flat roofed box), it is in good condition inside and out and it has windows. 

S2031 Merry Ploughboy

Maybe if we move on again, we'll get some space?

No. And even though the two bus loads that arrived here, another show bar, were directed upstairs; there wasn't even a perch in here. But there was a covered smoking area - and a vastly larger partially covered, but still completely soaked one, that looks from Streetview to have been built for the 'outdoor summer' of 2021.

This trip was never about finding a nice comfy pub to sit down in, it was to tick places that are harder to get to public transport - and despite the large bus park here, you can't get here easily on regular buses - there are eight services a day to/from Dundrum Luas stop on weekdays and zero on weekends.

It also wasn't about watching the rugby match, which was creating much of the demand in the pubs; and ended badly while we were standing inside the pub before heading outside. At least the ticking trip was a success.

1002618 Taylors Three Rock

Would we get some respite from how busy the Southsides pubs were here, in this vast premises?

Would we bollox. Only one area appeared to be open to normal punters - this is a show bar, and the buses for same arrived when we were leaving later - and despite this section being pretty big; we ended up perching at a barrel inside the door.

This is the final premises I needed to visit that gives me a double tick - there are two licences here; a hotel (public bar) licence and a theatre licence - a duality that allows serving during normal hours without requiring there to be a performance on; and to serve during a performance without needing a specific late exemption. 

Once upon a time, these were common across Dublin - most nightclubs and some late bars had them to allow late opening, which at times went much later than what became allowable after the 2008 "reforms" - the first stage of the neo-prohibitionist streak of recent decades. Many premises have got rid of the theatre licence still, but Taylors is still present. I'm not sure if the hotel is actually available to book these days, but there is no requirement to keep the hotel going to keep the licence going; once it is a public licence - the residents only version, which I don't cover, needs residents to exist.

I assume that the bulk of the trade in the section that I visited was locals, rather than people early for the show; and it gives the impression of a nicely busy locals pub from that crowd.

S0369 Step Inn

What were we thinking, doing a drive (I was not the driver, the driver was not drinking) around the pubs of a stereotypically wealthier part of South Dublin during a rugby match?

It wasn't easy to get in to the Step Inn - its carpark was rammed, and from the carpark it isn't obvious how to actually walk in to the pub - and it wasn't easy to get a seat either; or get an order in at the bar for that matter - however, once sat, there was sufficient floor service that this wasn't a real issue.

Despite the Step Inn being incredibly busy, Stepaside doesn't seem to quite have the numbers to support two pubs - the second one (Morgan and Macs, Fern & Co, Wild Boar at various times) across the road is currently closed; and remains unticked (and untickable) as I'm not entirely confident that I did actually visit there for lunch when kitting out the medical centre in a previous job. The area has grown significantly, and continues to grow, but changing patterns in pub attendance may be cancelling this out.

The pub it does have is a decent suburban pub regardless, assuming you can get in.

1001184 Farmer Browns Kilternan

As I usually don't get to write a pub up immediately, there is always a risk that something significant will happen before I get to do the writeup. And in this case, the pub has closed down.

The Golden Ball pub, as was, was bought by Greg Kavanagh for the land around it; and with this redeveloped - looking nothing like the original proposal - he sold it on in November 2023. During his ownership, the pub was leased out to the restaurant-and-occasional-pub chain Farmer Browns, and I visited during the latter days of their operation.

This pub was the 750th on a rolling register basis, albeit I've visited two other new pubs that are not yet on the register before this, so it is only 750th by default really.

Under the Farmer Browns operation, there was a restaurant area and a bar area, with my visit being constrained to the bar as I'd already had lunch; but this may not be the same once the new owners take over.

(no number yet) Krewe South

August 2025: Krewe, currently at least, holds a Special Restaurant Licence, so this isn't a "pub visit" 

This post may end up being pointless for ticking purposes; as I don't yet know if this is going to have a pub licence; but as its sister premises (N2805 Krewe North - since visited but not written up yet) has a pub licence, and this one has a similar setup, I'm assuming it does.

By not being on the register, it has been robbed of being Pub #750 on a rolling register basis - it can't be marked as such, as its not there to mark. But maybe it isn't even a pub anyway.

From the off, things didn't look good here. Their booking system told me there were no seats available for a single diner; possibly ever - but when I looked for a table for two, I was offered any and every 15 minute slot I wanted that evening. I didn't book one lest I had to make up a story about a missing date; but just turned up in person.

As expected, there were plenty of seats available. The next issue is that the tap list here is bloody awful.

However, the food is the main draw here; and is fantastic - this is going to be subjective, but they manage to hit exactly what I want, taste wise. 

Fix the booking system and get one, just one, Irish independent product on the taps and I'll give it 5/5 every day. 

Something I noticed on my visits to the toilets - the food is quite messy, and that's where the sinks are - was that the music playout appeared to be stuck there, with a single track repeating. This is apparently deliberate.

S0971 Leopardstown Inn

The rotating bar is gone.

I only came here for the rotating bar (and to tick it off the list). Bah.

My main takeaway from the now entirely stationary pub is that its a lot, lot smaller than I imagined. The extensive radio advertising (for the rotating bar) made me assume this was an absolutely massive complex. Its not small, but its probably half the size I'd assumed in my mind.

My static pint was fine, but I wanted to get marginally dizzy.