RetroReviews: S3908 The Well

This is almost certainly the most frequent entry in my Revisited Pubs list that didn't already have an article to link to. This is because a monthly event I attempt to attend - the brick.ie Lego meetup - has normally been held here since the Lego store opened on Grafton Street. This being the venue is at least partially my fault, having been able to run through potential options that would have the space that we were used to in the old location; and have food. We are occasionally unable/unwilling to get a booking due to a clash - the meetings are not particularly raucous and sometimes there's something else on in The Well that really is!

Now, The Well only opened in 2018; which is after the late 2016 date where my cutoff for pre- and post- blog is. But, as the letter-series licence number indicates, this is a much older premises than that.

Originally opening along with the extension to the Stephens Green Centre (that gave us TK Maxx and the Fitzwilliam Hotel), this was Dublin's short-lived branch of Planet Hollywood. I never attended - the other Fifth Class in my primary school had their school tour there while we went bowling, the bastards - but it was actually open for a bit longer than I remembered; December 1997 until October 2001, although it had been sold to Capital Bars in the interim.

And Capital then converted it to what I first attended it as, the Dandelion nightclub/bar - its name referencing the Dandelion Market, which once operated on part of the site that the Stephens Green Centre was built on, and which was a legendary gig venue in its own right.

Dandelion had a number of incarnations, including as a more serious dance venue, and latterly as a more food focused bar. 

The Well has some occasional events that hark back to the nightclub era; but is generally run more as the food focused bar that the late stage Dandelion was, offering Italian main courses and pizzas alongside the nearly entire Molson Coors tap lineup - Aspalls Cyder instead of the Bulmers or Orchard Thieves taps you'd regularly find in Dublin being a notable standout from that.

DG0486 The Harvest Inn

This is the sister pub of the previous (non-RetroReview) pub; and for all the standard Irish pub of the 1990s vibe that the Milestone has; the Harvest has the vibe of a (very) high end pub of the 1980s. Palm trees and marble are in the lounge, at least - Google shows me other interiors that may be the bar and grill side of the operation.

This was the quieter of the pair, and I'd probably head in here for a pint if I was local, waiting to see if Joan Collins would turn around the corner. Probably see her shoulder pads before I'd see her.

RetroReviews: S0119 Against the Grain

There couldn't really be a worse time to do a writeup for a pub first visited a few months before the blog (January 2016), and visited many times since - having just recently been sold from the Galway Bay Brewing chain and rebranded as "Teach Tábhairne" (yes, they've called a pub Pub, basically); it is unlikely to be anything like it was before.

Like a lot of the GBB pubs, this premises had more names than you should care to remember in the ~10 years or so before GBB took it over - they were a stabilising force in the pre private equity ownership days; and it ran as their Dublin flagship for many years. S0083 Beer Temple now realistically holds that role, being a bigger and more central premises.

The similar elements of the non-hotel GBB bars were all here - the bockety furniture, the stickers, no TVs except maybe during free-to-air games; and a huge difference from every other pub on 'the strip', as I've seen some people hideously attempt to call the Georges-Aungier-Redmonds Hill-Wexford-Aungier Street alignment.

It's immediately clear that it won't be like this now - one of the first social media posts from the new operators was listing multiple GAA and rugby matches that they would be showing over the weekend.

RetroReviews: 1017068 Rascals Brewery

Back during the horrors of 2020/1, I padded out the months between getting any new ticks - or indeed any pints that weren't drunk outside of the one pub in my suburb still serving takeout - by writing up reviews of pubs I had visited before starting this massive consumer of time "journey" in August 2016.

I got, on the licence register of the day, through all the numeric licences, all the N licences and the start of the S licences before pubs reopened. But I really need to finish the S licences; and catch anything that was missed from that page or otherwise snuck under the radar. So here starts an occasional revisit to the RetroReviews series.

And this premises is one that snuck under - I had first visited it (and had pints there) when it held a Special Restaurant Licence, so when it appeared with a Publicans (Ordinary) licence, I just ticked it off - and it doesn't appear on the pre-2016 list, as that first visit was in 2019. 

But it appeared on last months Revisited list, with no post to link to - so it's time to rectify that. I'm going to do posts for any pub that appears on Revisited; as a start towards finishing the list and actually having a post for everywhere I visited.

Anyway - on to the pub. This is the only 'traditional' tap room in Dublin, being a large industrial space in front of Rascal's actual brewery, and with a few of some elements of the brewery. Tours are offered; but you can come in here for beer, for pizza or to get takeout, or any combo of those - the wonders of having a Publicans licence. The music is generally curated to a high standard - Rascals marketing manager being an long term radio professional.

The beer's good - although the tap list can vary significantly depending on what guest and specials are tapped at any given time - and the pizza's good too. I would recommend a booking unless coming here on a weeknight - I have been here on some very busy nights, but also on some much quieter ones during the week.

Revisited Pubs, April 2024

edit: forgot the first pub initially

S0048 Kennedys, Westland Row - waiting for a train in Pearse; and the Ginger Man doesn't open Sundays.

1017068 Rascals Brewery Inchicore - for Christina Wade's book launch

1013315 Button Factory / Crowbar Curved Street - for a gig I'd rather prefer not to have gone to

S0083 Beer Temple Dame Street- just checking it's still there, with everything going on in GBB

1003309 Hogs & Heifers Airside - just food, but there for long enough (note that H&H is now in the former TGI Fridays unit. I also visited its original unit while it was in the Wright Venue; but before the licences were split. This is a very confusing, short bit of history)

DG0485 The Milestone

While nowhere close to the Irish Pub Company 'standards' of the 90s, this is almost what you might get if you ordered "small town Irish pub" from a catalogue. Dark wood, dark patterned fabrics, glass, uncomfortable chairs and a general feeling that there's a food service time and a drinking time to the operating hours.

I arrived to drink during food-time; and initially sat at a table that, after a quick visit to use the facilities, had a table with young children beside it. I moved to another area and found that I was, again, beside kids - somewhat older this time though. At least I was only staying for one.

This pub is owned by the same group as the pub directly across the road (and the previously visited Balscadden Inn); both of which feature a 1923 construction date prominently on the facade. Without doing any proper research in to this, I'm going to guess they are both replacement buildings from after the Sack of Balbriggan in 1920.

(no number yet) The Morris

Yet another tick that doesn't register, initially - The Morris opened in December but is yet to grace a published licence register. I could probably just ask them for their licence number, considering I've had a conversation going with whoever does their Instagram for a while now.

Not to blag - I don't lower myself to that - but to find out when they are open; as the pub has fairly limited, fairly late opening hours; and I had attempted to go in on a Saturday afternoon before when it was not yet open.

These later hours don't seem to be affecting trade, though; as I arrived within 30mins of opening and the place was rammed. Not rammed beyond being able to get a seat; but that would come shortly after.

The shopfront here - preserved in part from the Morris Wallpaper Stores that gives the pub its name - has a central door, but you actual enter through a smaller door to the left. This does not make someone approaching the place after a few pints and trying the main door look the most competent, and may help the door staff in decisions; but I was let in regardless.

There's a mix of craft and macro taps here; and pizza on offer - I suspect from an external source, but I didn't dig in to it. An interesting new addition to the range of pubs on Talbot Street and quite different from the rest of them.