The Pubs of Dublin

The Pubs of Dublin

The famous Dublin pub has inspired imitators the world over. This month, we get to the heart of the matter, so raise a toast, and maybe a toastie too, to some of our most beloved bars.

Leopold Bloom, hero of James Joyce’s Ulysses, famously said that a “good puzzle would be to cross Dublin without passing a pub”. Since then a great many more people have wondered why you might even want to try. The pubs of Dublin are renowned the world over, so much so that another puzzle might be to find an international city without its own Irish bar. This month, as Dublin City gets back into its lovely groove, we celebrate that quintessentially brilliant Dublin phenomenon – the traditional pub.

These days, the city is bristling with fabulous spots for glamorous cocktails, but our search takes you to some places with a more than a little history and an awful lot of stories to match. We’ll start with Davy Byrne’s, simply because Joyce himself was a regular, anointing it as a “moral pub”. Founded in 1889, it became a literary haven for the likes of Oliver St.John Gogarty James Stephens, Patrick Kavanagh and Brendan Behan; but of course it is Joyce that made it most famous. He has Leopold Bloom stopping by for a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy. A short walk from the Merrion on Duke Street, Davy Byrnes also does some pretty marvellous food.

Further across Dublin, and just up from the Liffey, we can’t go any further without mentioning the Brazen Head off Usher’s Quay. It’s Dublin’s oldest pub, and     the fact that there has been an inn here since 1198, but it still isn’t  Ireland’s oldest bar is surely enough to make anyone need a good stiff   drink. The current incarnation was built in 1754, and today it’s more an obligatory stop for visitors, than a true local, but with all that history, they surely know what they’re doing! And what about Ireland’s oldest pub? That honour goes to Sean’s Bar in Athlone, Co Westmeath. Established in the year 900, it’s listed in the Guinness Book of Records – and it also serves a decent pint of the black stuff too.

Back in The Merrion neighbourhood, Dublin music institution, The Dubliners needed a pretty special bar to make their name. Step up O’Donoghue’s on Merrion Row. Originally built as a grocery store in 1789, it became home to the famous folk band in the 1960s, when they played some legendary sessions. As their banjo player, Barney McKenna remarked “there are many hangovers hanging above the bar…” Other famous musicians who graced the slightly sticky floorboards include Christy Moore, The Fureys and Thin Lizzey frontman, Phil Lynott.

 

The stretch that runs from Merrion Row to Baggot Street Lower is rich in lovely pubs. Toners is another renowned spot. Nobel prizewinning poet W.B. Yeats is said to have liked to drink nowhere else, and as Yeats also said that “the worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober”, you can imagine some memorable stories being told within these walls. These days it’s a charming spot, that opens into a rather enormous beer garden out back, and from there it’s just a (sober) step across the road to…

Doheny & Nesbitt’s. Established in 1867, and still family run, the toasted sandwiches are greatly enjoyed by Dubliners, and in particular by journalists, economists and politicians – so much so that the pub became known as the “Doheny & Nesbitt School of Economics”, so influential were the pronouncements emerging from within its cosy walls. Extended, it’s now a bit of a labyrinth, but that just means you never know who you might meet there next.

If all that talk of large beer gardens and extended areas makes you crave something a little cosier, then find yourself in Fallon’s of The Coombe, just round the corner from St Patrick’s Cathedral. Fallons (also known as The Capstan Bar) is, quite literally, a bar. Yes, there’s a row of seats, and a small snug, but this lovely little pub goes back to 1619, and apart from some updated plumbing and electricity, you get the impression very little else has changed.

Once you’ve started with Dublin pubs, it’s hard to know where to stop. The Stag’s Head is a beautiful bar, which has featured in films including Educating Rita, Penny Dreadful and A Man of No Importance, but please note: this Dame Lane institution makes all men (and women) feel very important indeed. Or then there’s the favourite hang out of artists, poets and other types who like to look soulful – Grogan’s, another toasted sandwich special spot on South William Street, just beside the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre. In fact, the quickest way to start a gentle argument in Dublin is to raise the topic of Best Pub. And with that in mind, maybe the ideal place to settle the matter is back at The Merrion in the very welcoming surroundings of the beautiful No 23 and Cellar Bars, where we’d be delighted to help you in your deliberations. And of course our Concierge will be delighted to help you with any bookings.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

PS And that puzzle? Believe it or not, ten years ago, Rory McCann a computer software developer used his skills to map out a route between Dublin’s canals, from the northwest to the southeast, with nary a pub between them. He had to discount hotels and restaurants to make it work, but most people remarked the easiest way to cross Dublin without passing a pub was simply to go into one!