JD Wetherspoon premises in the UK are often repurposed buildings, with cinemas, banks and churchs popping up quite frequently - an example of each is in The Sun's "10 weirdest Wetherspoons" listicle that you can find yourself if you want to read it; and of the cinema and bank variety in the far more wholesome Londonist "11 of the Best Wetherspoons in London" listicle that I am willing to link to.
Their rollout in Ireland hadn't had any of these, yet - all premises were already pubs or nightclubs until this one opened. And they've managed to get a two-for-one here, as this was formerly a bank AND a church. The former Dublin Savings Bank comprises the bulk of the pub, with the former Gospel Hall next door giving more a more dining room styled area - if anything can be more like a dining room than a normal Wetherspoons layout!
This is a vast premises when all areas on the three floors are added together, and it has the standard lack of character that Wetherspoons suffer from. Its quite hard to say exactly what the issue is - possibly the small identikit tables festooned with menus and condiments might be part of it. Slightly disinterested staff could also be part of the problem.
The standard of food in the Irish branches has been poor to mediocre so far; but I would hope that with the very significant quantity they'll be able to flog here that they might put a bit more effort in. With the low prices - "premium" pints under a fiver, pints available for under €3 - it should be a decent place to get a meal with a few drinks; but it needs to change to be somewhere you'd want to go for a few pints. And I'm not quite sure what the changes required are.
The price competition is welcome, at least. Dublin is an expensive city to do business in but some prices nearby are clearly out of step with what they could be.
Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Saturday, 20 July 2019
Friday, 19 July 2019
S0093 McDaids
Another - but not the final, there'll probably never be a final - of the pubs that come up when thinking of the "famous pubs" that I'd not yet been to. One of the "literary pubs" - realistically those trading off the drinking habits of writers a few decades ago - McDaids has another claim to fame, as it has even given Dublin lore a barman that many know by name - Paddy O'Brien
Like many city centre pubs, its rammed the majority of the time; but I visited quite early on a Sunday. There weren't many other customers, but they'd clearly been drunk near dry the previous night - my first choice of pint was out, and the second choice required a keg change.
There's a cluster of nice smaller pubs in this area of the city - S0077 Nearys, 1007737 Peters Pub and S0078 Sheehans for instance. This fits in well with them from my non-representative-time-of-day visit.
Like many city centre pubs, its rammed the majority of the time; but I visited quite early on a Sunday. There weren't many other customers, but they'd clearly been drunk near dry the previous night - my first choice of pint was out, and the second choice required a keg change.
There's a cluster of nice smaller pubs in this area of the city - S0077 Nearys, 1007737 Peters Pub and S0078 Sheehans for instance. This fits in well with them from my non-representative-time-of-day visit.
Wednesday, 17 July 2019
S3840 Graingers / The Fountain
Eternally for sale (at least as long as I've tracked pub sales), this is now the most dated of the Meath Street pubs; despite having been the most modern quite recently. Refits and/or complete changes of target audience have changed the market on the street quite significantly
My grandmother had an opposition to ever using the word "cheap" except when criticising something of poor quality; so reflecting that I shall refer to the pints here as "affordable". They are amongst the most affordable pints in Dublin; and don't come with quite the same problems as some similarly priced venues - indeed checking my review of two years ago of 1009700 The Snug, its still slightlycheaper more affordable (€8 rather than €8.10) here without any sign of the problematic crowd The Snug gets
The estate agent ad gives you a good impression of what the pub looks like; and indeed some of the atmosphere - the TV playing RTE Gold is visible in one of them just as it was when I visited.
Its possible that someone may buy this place and do a deep refit or change the theme of the pub entirely; but for now its a fairly standard pub for its location in terms of clientele and atmosphere. You know what you're going to get, and you won't pay very much for it.
My grandmother had an opposition to ever using the word "cheap" except when criticising something of poor quality; so reflecting that I shall refer to the pints here as "affordable". They are amongst the most affordable pints in Dublin; and don't come with quite the same problems as some similarly priced venues - indeed checking my review of two years ago of 1009700 The Snug, its still slightly
The estate agent ad gives you a good impression of what the pub looks like; and indeed some of the atmosphere - the TV playing RTE Gold is visible in one of them just as it was when I visited.
Its possible that someone may buy this place and do a deep refit or change the theme of the pub entirely; but for now its a fairly standard pub for its location in terms of clientele and atmosphere. You know what you're going to get, and you won't pay very much for it.
Friday, 5 July 2019
S1456 Lark Inn
Once one of the ugliest and generally off-putting pubs - from the outside - in Dublin, the Lark Inn has been significantly renovated in recent years including a new, inviting shopfront. You can toggle between different eras of images on Streeview to see the transformation.
I've a feeling the interior of the pub has only been refreshed and the clientele remains the same - so this should serve as an example of where you shouldn't judgea book by its cover a pub by its window height!
What you get (and can now see before getting) is a traditional Liberties pub, split in to a bar and a lounge and offering quite cheap pints. The brief description in the Irish Times last year seems accurate enough to me
I've a feeling the interior of the pub has only been refreshed and the clientele remains the same - so this should serve as an example of where you shouldn't judge
What you get (and can now see before getting) is a traditional Liberties pub, split in to a bar and a lounge and offering quite cheap pints. The brief description in the Irish Times last year seems accurate enough to me
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
July 2019 licence update
Very small update this month, and very quick to process - only three additional lines in the entire trimmed file as we approach the end of the licencing year
Additions
1015462 UCD O'Reilly Hall - full pub licence for what is a conferencing centre, this will be annoying to get!
Removals
1011474 White Hart Inn, Balbriggan - to be converted to residential use
Additions
1015462 UCD O'Reilly Hall - full pub licence for what is a conferencing centre, this will be annoying to get!
Removals
1011474 White Hart Inn, Balbriggan - to be converted to residential use
Tuesday, 2 July 2019
S0025 Madigans (Leeson Street)
Recently reopened, this was the East Side Tavern and Eamonn Dorans Tavern On The Green in recent memory. A partial refit - mainly new furniture from what I can see - has been done to bring it back in to use.
When I last drank in this area of the city, I felt it odd how quiet and dead this corner of Stephens Green was - it was approaching Christmas but with this closed, Houricans boarded up and nothing on in the Sugar Club that night, the small crowd from Hartigans wasn't enough to make it lively. Now with Madigans open and Houricans released from its tomb (albeit still closed), it's a bit better. I'm hoping that the works to Houricans suggest it might be next.
A fairly small pub, they manage to do a full food menu here, and there's a large enough range of drink options. I expect this incarnation to last a bit longer than the last two - Madigan Group have decades of experience and while they do close or sell on pubs, they don't often do it in a hurry.
When I last drank in this area of the city, I felt it odd how quiet and dead this corner of Stephens Green was - it was approaching Christmas but with this closed, Houricans boarded up and nothing on in the Sugar Club that night, the small crowd from Hartigans wasn't enough to make it lively. Now with Madigans open and Houricans released from its tomb (albeit still closed), it's a bit better. I'm hoping that the works to Houricans suggest it might be next.
A fairly small pub, they manage to do a full food menu here, and there's a large enough range of drink options. I expect this incarnation to last a bit longer than the last two - Madigan Group have decades of experience and while they do close or sell on pubs, they don't often do it in a hurry.
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