Famous Dublin pubs that are no more

Big Nasty

And in one of the most affluent areas in the country too.

beertons

Village Inn in Rathfarnam, has been done up and now called The Castle.

williestroker1

The Castle was always The Castle. Village inn was across the street. Different names over the years - Rathfarnham inn, Sarah Curran, awful dive. Gone now.

Hurrache

Sarah Curran and the nightclub were great spots in the early 90s.

AndrewJRenko

williestroker1 wrote: »

Village inn was across the street. Different names over the years - Rathfarnham inn, Sarah Curran, awful dive. Gone now.

Had a few good nights there watching Autó da Fé in the 80s.

L1011

The Inns licence was renewed a while back but as it's currently a creche it may just have been to flog it off elsewhere

Edit: boards eats text around foreign characters in case anyone wondered what a Cre was!

saffron22

May have been mentioned earlier in the thread but gone ( Completely knocked and now just a building site ) Only time I was ever there was in younger years pre stag party etc

Patrick2010

williestroker1 wrote: »

The Castle was always The Castle. Village inn was across the street. Different names over the years - Rathfarnham inn, Sarah Curran, awful dive. Gone now.

The Castle lost a lot of local trade once it became known as a favourite haunt of a certain "ethnic minority"

w/s/p/c/

saffron22 wrote: »

May have been mentioned earlier in the thread but gone ( Completely knocked and now just a building site ) Only time I was ever there was in younger years pre stag party etc

I work in the office next door, Neds closed and then reopened (briefly) as the Townsend Bar, think they were trying to go the whole hipster type pub, but ultimately that whole site was earmarked for destruction. Its going to be a hotel, apartments, restaurants etc so I've heard.

Used to love going for a pint in there after work for a few warm up pints before heading on elsewhere.... there's always the Windjammer I suppose!

retalivity

w/s/p/c/ wrote: »

Used to love going for a pint in there after work for a few warm up pints before heading on elsewhere.... there's always the Windjammer I suppose!

Ah the windjammer, it at 7am is truly a sight to behold

BK92

gaiscioch wrote: »

I very much hope it's not closed down; in my going out days I absolutely loved M Hughes. When the Cobblestone was black with people it was a lovely 7-minute walk away to escape to for a quiet drink where you could hear the person you were talking with. Music without amplifiers, quietly played in one of the corners. Drinks reasonably priced, and Tayto crisps.

Yes, the decor was really poor - unchanged from about 1970 - and the layout was nothing to write home about but some of the best trad seisiúin I've witnessed in Dublin were there. A couple of times I saw Brendan Gleeson playing the fiddle there - on one night there were no fewer than 14 other fiddle players playing with him. But again, no blaring speakers so very authentic and less intrusive than the more touristy pubs. The snug in the front would have another, more intimate music or singing seisiún at the same time (again no amplifiers or speakers which was great); I don't think I've ever been in Hughes's when there was only one seisiún on.

Strangely, they never, ever seemed to advertise the pub so hopefully it's only closed to refurbish the whole place and will open up as the same great trad seisiúin but promoted more. Definitely a hidden gem of Dublin's night life (like An Góilín Traditional Singers' Club).

I've just spent two years working in Dublin and nearly every weekend I've done a handful of old lads pubs which do a decent pint. Getting to know Dublin and all that :pac:

Hughes has been a regular stop for the reasons you've mentioned above.Yes, the decor has this naff 70's vibe off it, doesn't have the 'character' of the low ceiling/dark wood/sawdust on the floor type of place like Mulligan's. There's still a payphone inside there with small, old non-flat screen tvs, does any other Dublin pub persist with these relics ? Not complaining, I even enjoy it, but literally nothing has changed, not even the jax ! On the back of the door the last time someone had a look in and signed off on it was in February 2013/14 Even the Lord Edward has revamped its lime green jax with a sagging ceiling in recent times :eek:
Speaking about the jax in M Hughes, there's a strong smell of must/damp going down towards the back of the pub. The window hinges might want a decent drop of oil.


I'm far from a Dublin expert but I'd say it's so quiet because of the lack of passing foot traffic. There have been evenings when I've been the only person in the main bar for the best part of 20-30 mins! Has to be one of the best 'quiet pint' pubs in Dublin. The bar staff are sound but I always get the feeling that they could do with someone a bit more lively/chatty behind the counter. Not everyone's cup of tea in a quiet pint pub either to be fair.


Re the opening hours, I'd imagine Hughes is one of those old school pubs where there's no 'cut and dry' opening hours. I've found they usually open between 5-7 on weekdays, and an hour and a bit earlier on weekends but I'm open to correction on that.

L1011

M Hughes main trade is mornings and lunchtime - its an early house. If it closes after lunch its reopening at those times in the evening.

Lunchtime toasties for those attending the Four Courts and a wee nip for the odd barrister with the DTs before the days cases, etc.

L1011

Week before Christmas and the corner of SSG/Leeson Street is dead with East Side Tavern/O'Dwyers and Houricans both closed. This is with something on in the Sugar Club at that. Rest of the city was pretty busy.

I checked planning a while ago and there was nothing in for Houricans site - anyone heard anything for it? East Side Tavern I'd assume will reopen eventually.

BK92

L1011 wrote: »

Week before Christmas and the corner of SSG/Leeson Street is dead with East Side Tavern/O'Dwyers and Houricans both closed. This is with something on in the Sugar Club at that. Rest of the city was pretty busy.

I checked planning a while ago and there was nothing in for Houricans site - anyone heard anything for it? East Side Tavern I'd assume will reopen eventually.

That corner of Stephen's Green always seemed to be the quietest of the four to me outside of Thursday/Friday after work drinks. Without the East Side Tavern open at the moment, quiet pints in Hartigan's will be even quieter still!

ILikeBoats

Used to love Houricans. Can't believe EST is closed, thought they put a good bit of money into that

matrim

The Longstone on Townsend St is supposed to be closing this weekend and not reopening after Christmas.

L1011

They were meant to vacate mid 2017 and took a court case. Building is being demolished

w/s/p/c/

Shame reading that about the longstone, my go to place for a carvery if I have to have dinner at lunch time!

BonnieSituation

I'm generally sad about boozers in Dublin closing but Longstone was never one i had an iota of interest in or love for.

Too many better boozers in the vicinity down the years to be interested in it.

imme

The Long Stone will be missed.

To be replaced by walls of glass, sad.

retalivity

I always liked the longstone, that place had character. Shame its going. Is it being re-opened in the new building or gone altogether?

Re: East Side Tavern, that place has problems I think, its been closed a few times over the past 2 years, and have had different people/companies in sharing with it - taco taco was the last one i remember.
Alfie Byrnes is just round the corner from there, is always busy with good food and pints

BonnieSituation

retalivity wrote: »

I always liked the longstone, that place had character. Shame its going. Is it being re-opened in the new building or gone altogether?

Re: East Side Tavern, that place has problems I think, its been closed a few times over the past 2 years, and have had different people/companies in sharing with it - taco taco was the last one i remember.
Alfie Byrnes is just round the corner from there, is always busy with good food and pints

And Hartigans is next door with Scampi Fries and stout ya heathen!

L1011

My abiding memory of the Long Stone will be going in at 5 before a gig to get food and having to hide from a cackling Welsh hen party that had clearly been there since opening. Amazed they hadn't been asked to leave but they must have been spending a lot

odyssey06

I'll miss the Long Stone, maybe not the best 'boozing' pub but it holds some special memories for me and what a memorable layout...

L1011

The Long Stone and Neds licences will be resurrected in bars in the new developments on their sites; whether they'll be bland hotel bars or something interesting is indeterminable. Alfie Byrnes as mentioned is a hotel bar for instance but its rather different to, say, the boring and overpriced bars in most of the O'Callaghan hotels.

miamee

The Come Here To Me blog publiched this article that might be of interest to people following the thread - Dublin Pubs (mid 1980s).

A lot of the city centre ones still look the very same, e.g. Doheny & Nesbits, O'Donoghues.

Birneybau

L1011 wrote: »

The Long Stone and Neds licences will be resurrected in bars in the new developments on their sites; whether they'll be bland hotel bars or something interesting is indeterminable. Alfie Byrnes as mentioned is a hotel bar for instance but its rather different to, say, the boring and overpriced bars in most of the O'Callaghan hotels.

Alfie Byrne's is one of the Galway Bay Brewery pubs, alongside Against The Grain, the Black Sheep, Brewdock, The Beer Market etc.

L1011

I'm fully aware of that, but it is also the hotel bar of The Conrad. The Gasworks is another bar they operate in a hotel

Hotel bars are usually bland but don't have to be. The Adelphi is another example of a non-standard hotel bar

L1011

Planning went in to demolish the Blackhorse Inn (Inchicore) in November, replacement with 56 apartments and a cafe. Must have been lodged almost immediately after I did my last planning search as I was wondering why there hadn't been any movement on it for ages.

Cafe could end up retaining the licence going on some recent developments.

neris

miamee wrote: »

The Come Here To Me blog publiched this article that might be of interest to people following the thread - Dublin Pubs (mid 1980s).

A lot of the city centre ones still look the very same, e.g. Doheny & Nesbits, O'Donoghues.

Love those old pub fronts. Bit of character in them compared to modern day boozers. Still a few around