Many of the "new" - post 1990s - pub licences in the South Docklands are used primarily as restaurants with drinks service as an aside, or not even currently done. I had a significant concern that this would be one of them, particularly as it has previously been branded as a seafood restaraunt
Taking the ground floor and basement of Dublins former tallest building, the otherwise residential Millennium Tower, this is mostly a restaurant - but has a separate bar to the side, and a significant amount of outdoor seating dedicated to this.
Addressing two sides of a corner of Grand Canal Dock with views of some of the better architectural work in Dublin across the water, this was a particularly enjoyable place to sit for a pint on a warm afternoon. A slight breeze was coming off the docks, and if sitting on the North side of the bar there was little noise other than that from the distance wakeboarders.
Its not particularly cheap and the drinks range isn't huge, but don't be put off thinking that it's a dining required place to visit.
Thursday, 30 May 2019
Wednesday, 29 May 2019
N0131 The Beachcomber
Relatively poor recording of my sources of some info is giving me a conflict on the age of this pub - its website claims it was founded in 1963 by the current owners but I have a date of 1943 and a former name down. Killester was extensively developed in the 1940s, so I'm going to assume that the Duignan family took the pub over in 1963, but I could be wrong.
Regardless of which date it is from; there is a somewhat anachronistic but quite nice and decent condition 1920s/30s style interior to much of the bar, although the attention to detail is a bit lacking in one place. A quite substantial premises, it was busy with both food customers and those watching Sky Sports but there were still tables available.
Food here is primarily seafood, both on the bar food menu and in the dedicated restaurant upstairs. These are operated by Dorans of Howth, one of the fishmongers on the West Pier there. Despite my Grandfather having operated a fishing boat factory in Donegal; I don't generally eat fish so I hung around until Google indicated that the nearby chipper had opened to get food
Stepping in to said chipper - Lynch's - is like going back in time, with an interior decorated with Euro '88 memorabilia. With limited opening hours and somewhat feeling like it was in the owners house (I don't think it actually is, but anyway); it felt more like what you'd find in a small rural village, not very close to the city. The chips are fantastic.
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
N0176 The Watermill
Regular readers (there's at least two!) of the blog will know that I get somewhat annoyed when someone swipes my seat when I'm in the toilets. It's happened again. This pub was the least generally objectionable place for it to happen in, though.
A standard suburban pub in a row of shops likely dating to the 1950s, this was the pub in the film adaptation of The Snapper, which you can watch basically every weekend on Virgin 1 for the past few years. Like many of those pubs, its relatively narrow and surprisingly long once you get inside; with no real division in to a bar-and-lounge format.
Quite a lot of similar pubs to this don't do food; but there's a significant focus on food and particularly steak here; and this is probably the reason my seat was taken - it was a decent table to sit and eat at, rather than perching at the bar. I had been considering ordering food but decided to move on instead, now that I had nowhere to sit; so for the bars sake hopefully the seat-thieves did actually eat something
A standard suburban pub in a row of shops likely dating to the 1950s, this was the pub in the film adaptation of The Snapper, which you can watch basically every weekend on Virgin 1 for the past few years. Like many of those pubs, its relatively narrow and surprisingly long once you get inside; with no real division in to a bar-and-lounge format.
Quite a lot of similar pubs to this don't do food; but there's a significant focus on food and particularly steak here; and this is probably the reason my seat was taken - it was a decent table to sit and eat at, rather than perching at the bar. I had been considering ordering food but decided to move on instead, now that I had nowhere to sit; so for the bars sake hopefully the seat-thieves did actually eat something
Monday, 27 May 2019
N0170 Raheny Inn
This is a quite traditional suburban pub that has an emphasis on live music - and at least when I visited, on live sports. As far as I can remember there were five different sporting channels on the TVs in the bar, primarily racing but also snooker and football.
These type of pubs are often quite community focused, and when doing a basic search to find any historical info that might be online, I found a reference to their substantial donation to a charity assisting with the ridiculous costs of religious ceremonies in nearby Edenmore. Otherwise basically all I found was every single working live band along the East coast mentioning that they had or will be playing there!
It seems that this pub was built during the general expansion of Raheny in the 50s and its not massively changed, except in interior decor, since. Its also mentioned in Ronan Keating's autobiography it seems - the random stuff Google turns up sometimes.
Sunday, 26 May 2019
N0171 The Manhattan
Who doesn't want to go drinking with The Blues Brothers? For reasons unknown to me, The Manhattan has a Blues Brothers themed outdoor seating area - and a very substantial one at that.
Relatively recently called the Cock & Bull as a sister pub to the one in Coolock; you may think that the current name is part of the recent-ish trend of naming various things in Dublin after bits of New York. Nolita, N0088 Bleecker Street, the original idea of calling HSQ "Soho", and so on. But it isn't - its the original name of the pub from the 1840s
The pub is heavily food based, but its also very large so there is still plenty of space to sit for drinks. The drinks options are numerous as there is the full standard macro range; and then an equivalent number of craft/"fraft" taps of various kinds. Having seen one Hope IPA on the taps and ordering that, I was asked "which one?" - as they had both the standard and the session. I think there were actually four different Hope taps, as well as other Irish craft.
If you arrive at a time when there's a lot of food service going on, it'll be quieter to sit outside. Google is turning up absolutely nothing for the Blues Brothers connection, but there's plenty related to it out there to look at.
Relatively recently called the Cock & Bull as a sister pub to the one in Coolock; you may think that the current name is part of the recent-ish trend of naming various things in Dublin after bits of New York. Nolita, N0088 Bleecker Street, the original idea of calling HSQ "Soho", and so on. But it isn't - its the original name of the pub from the 1840s
The pub is heavily food based, but its also very large so there is still plenty of space to sit for drinks. The drinks options are numerous as there is the full standard macro range; and then an equivalent number of craft/"fraft" taps of various kinds. Having seen one Hope IPA on the taps and ordering that, I was asked "which one?" - as they had both the standard and the session. I think there were actually four different Hope taps, as well as other Irish craft.
If you arrive at a time when there's a lot of food service going on, it'll be quieter to sit outside. Google is turning up absolutely nothing for the Blues Brothers connection, but there's plenty related to it out there to look at.
Saturday, 25 May 2019
N2076 1661
Some pubs have a quick lick of paint before reopening after a short closure, and maybe take down some branded stickers or similar from the old operators - I see this quite frequently. Getting back in business as quickly as possible is often the main target for an operator.
However, while this happened here before, it didn't this time. The first rebirth of the pub happened only a few years back, and is documented by The Dublin Inquirer. Originally a run-down (albeit relatively new - the building was replaced in the late 1990s) markets early house with a colourful and somewhat problematic clientele, The Claddagh Ring became The Capel Bar in 2015/2016, but this wasn't to last and it closed last year. The original clientele didn't go away, from what I was told, which doesn't really provide a solid basis for running a pub with Dublin's cost base these days.
This time, the pub has had a total refit to an extremely high standard instead, and isn't opening early. Doors open at 5pm, with a doorman to let you in to the dark painted, red leather and brass decorated interior. The early house licence is being retained for now, but for occasional use for after parties or similar and not regular operation.
There are still beer taps here, albeit not that many - for this is a poitin bar. Available neat or in mixed drinks, there is a larger range of poitin here than I think I've ever seen even in specialist off-licences.
The cocktails are named after notable local interest items, either current or historical - meaning that you can order a Pantibar or Hacienda a few hundred metres away from the pubs in question! On the historical side, there is the Barney Kiernan, named for the former pub next door, closed in the late 1940s and quite important in Ulysses - Publin has covered this before - with another being named for the Claddagh Ring itself.
The quality of the fitout and knowledge of the staff of their products - and their provision of samples prior to purchase to someone who knows little about poitin - set this place apart from a lot of other "gentrified" bars in Dublin. It may be on a sidestreet, but it isn't too far from either Smithfield or Capel Street so there should be plenty of custom,
The quality of the fitout and knowledge of the staff of their products - and their provision of samples prior to purchase to someone who knows little about poitin - set this place apart from a lot of other "gentrified" bars in Dublin. It may be on a sidestreet, but it isn't too far from either Smithfield or Capel Street so there should be plenty of custom,
Friday, 24 May 2019
S0411 Stags Head
I repeatedly think I've reached the last of the "what? You haven't been there?" pubs when I get one ticked off the list. This is one of those.
Last renovated significantly in 1895, this was formerly the John Bulls Tavern & Albion Hotel; a name which sounds more like somewhere to get a fry up and a pint of Carling in Benidorm than somewhere in Dublin. However, it is name which if retained would have at least given me a two-pub Brighton-related pub crawl to do, along with The Sussex upstairs at M O'Briens.
Dame Lane is obviously busy with pub-goers these days; but it is relatively secluded from Dame Street. This is why there is a mosiac advertisement for the pub embedded in the footpath at the laneway which leads through to Dame Lame - but this hasn't always been exactly as it is now. It was removed for repairs in the early 2000s, and reinstalled upside down, facing those exiting from the laneway rather than directing those heading down it - but it's still there giving people an indication of what lies behind the buildings.
This pub is usually busy at nearly all times of day; with tourists during the day and the general Dame Lane/Dame Court crowds at evenings; and it was even busy enough on a fairly quiet afternoon when I visited. There were still seats at the bar, and I ended up in a strident debate with some of the other bar-sitters over whether Dubliners or non-Dubliners know their way around the city better. Having had my Dublin-born mother not realise you could get from Palmerstown to Ballyfermot without using the N4, and generally needing drawn directions to find her way anywhere, there was only one side I could go for!
Last renovated significantly in 1895, this was formerly the John Bulls Tavern & Albion Hotel; a name which sounds more like somewhere to get a fry up and a pint of Carling in Benidorm than somewhere in Dublin. However, it is name which if retained would have at least given me a two-pub Brighton-related pub crawl to do, along with The Sussex upstairs at M O'Briens.
Dame Lane is obviously busy with pub-goers these days; but it is relatively secluded from Dame Street. This is why there is a mosiac advertisement for the pub embedded in the footpath at the laneway which leads through to Dame Lame - but this hasn't always been exactly as it is now. It was removed for repairs in the early 2000s, and reinstalled upside down, facing those exiting from the laneway rather than directing those heading down it - but it's still there giving people an indication of what lies behind the buildings.
This pub is usually busy at nearly all times of day; with tourists during the day and the general Dame Lane/Dame Court crowds at evenings; and it was even busy enough on a fairly quiet afternoon when I visited. There were still seats at the bar, and I ended up in a strident debate with some of the other bar-sitters over whether Dubliners or non-Dubliners know their way around the city better. Having had my Dublin-born mother not realise you could get from Palmerstown to Ballyfermot without using the N4, and generally needing drawn directions to find her way anywhere, there was only one side I could go for!
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