A Premier Inn where I can see the damn bar from the window, something I'm not so blessed with at the Georges Street one, which is why I've still not visited it.
A very limited number of taps, an English barman who 'corrected' me to Smith-wicks, and I also suspect I might have been asked if I was a hotel guest if I wasn't wearing an expensive pile of Louis Copeland's finest (after an interview); but it's done now and I don't have to go back. And they did specifically get a public licence, so...
I'm actually surprised I've not been back here since I started doing the revisited lists in 2019 - everywhere I have been back to is written up already, cause I did a sweep of that before.
Not sure what there is to say here. Avoid the front seats at a comedy gig unless you're up for being part of the show, I guess.
The history here may be more interesting than the current, in a few different ways.
Mainly, the name - O'Connors is a perfectly fine name for a pub. "Oil Can Harrys" is not. I'm not sure where the name came from, but I believe it held that name for two decades under the O'Connors ownership before they decided to put their own name above the door instead. Everyone wants to drink in a pub named after an evil cat, I'm sure. (Seriously, I have no idea if this is what the name refers to, but it is the only obvious option)
Prior to that, it had the inexplicable-unless-explained name of "Peppers", a reference to the Pepper Canister Church nearby; but a really bad reference - cause its not obvious. This was, somehow, the winner of a competition in the Evening Herald to rename the pub!
Separately, I've a note saying it was damaged by the UDA in 1976 but now cannot find any reference to this. There was a significant UDA campaign in Dublin in 1976, primarily incendiary devices but also a bomb at the Shelbourne Hotel, and this makes finding stuff even harder. I need better notes.
Anyway, this is a nice enough pub I've just never really had any reason to go in to before now - its a little away from other pubs, so never neatly slotted in alongside others when going out specifically on trips; and isn't near anything I'd normally be doing.
Is there much point giving you a writeup of my visits to the pool-hall-with-pints element of the old Camden Deluxe/Planet Murphys/etc setup here when every single element of it has changed, and its now a brewpub?
Probably not. I mean, last time I was in the Jimmy Rabbittes bar section of this place, it was half a hotel lobby, half a Belgian frites restaurant
But, it has been ticked regardless of what happened since.
I don't particularly like having to "find" the bar in a hotel, for instance when it isn't clearly in one of the front parts and visible from the road; and I'd cased out the Mespil to see if I could see its bar on at least two occasions before.
I never could, but with some Dutch - well, Irish, Canadian and wherever else I'd had half pints from at the RDS beer festival that afternoon - Courage in me, I just walked in and looked for it.
And found it relatively easily, as its basically just straight back from the front door, albeit well in to the hotel
Its quite a fancy hotel bar, but nothing incredibly special. I doubt many people ever go here just to drink, what with the Baggot Street and Haddington Road pubs nearby, but you *could*.
This is the stadium licence for the RDS, which may apply to other events here with alcohol sales... or may not. Its rather hard to tell.
Without getting in to the weeds of event licences, and potentially getting something very wrong; event bars at otherwise unlicenced premises get covered by a temporary extension on the pub licence of another licence holder in good standing.
The main players in this game are the Madigan Group, who have a number of pubs around Dublin; and are certainly involved in the running of bars at some events here - you'll see them on your card statements from the Beer Festival, for instance. Guinness used to do this also, but sold out of the business a long time ago.
National Sporting Arena licences on the other hand are a 'new' (2003) class of licence for major sporting arenas - GAA, rugby, football and boxing stadia have these but the Minister can decide on other types if they want to.
So what events have I been to in the RDS that were definitely on the RDS stadium licence? I suspect beer festivals are not; and are using a Madigan extension. But what about gigs?
They're held in the actual stadium bowl, most of the time - indoor ones are not - but are not sporting occasions. However, the legislation refers to events "whether of a sporting or non-sporting nature" that "involves the use of some or all of the playing area or pitch in the arena" - so Linkin Park on the pitch probably *did* use the licence.
The licence also covers "functions", defined as " a conference, exhibition, seminar or reception which is held at a designated national sporting arena but does not involve the use of the playing area or pitch". Does this cover the beer festivals? Almost certainly not, they're not in the stadium bit of the RDS. Can't see it covering a Simmonscourt gig either.
I'd drunk at a match here anyway, as well as some gigs on the pitch; so I'm sure I'm covered. But I'm also sure I shouldn't have put this on September's revisit list.
I've taken a few goes to tick off the Baggot Street area pubs, and yet somehow forgot that this hotel bar should have been considered as one of those - particularly as it has a reputation as a "rugby pub" despite not being a standalone pub.
Accessed directly from the carpark at the front of the hotel, the bar fills the not-very-underground basement level of the two townhouses that the hotel is formed from; and manages to feel a little bit more like a "normal" pub than a hotel bar, extensively due to never interacting with the hotel facilities. This is the case with most of the city centre hotel bars that people do not consider (or realise) to be hotel bars; and is why I do count hotel bars for ticking purposes.
By finally visiting the Lansdowne, I finish off the mini-chain of pubs owned by Mick Quinn, and formerly also his brother Frank - the others being Toners, The 51 and The Waterloo
