The Bridges of Dublin City

It’s a good question for a pub quiz- How many bridges span the Liffey from Heuston Station to where Dublin meets the sea? No doubt you’ll get a plethora of answers, but you’ll rarely get the right one. You can guarantee people will forget that two bridges traverse the water at Heuston, they’ll forget about the little [...]

Read Full Post »

A Random Drop Inn: Kennedy’s, Westland Row

It’s like a song by the Beach Boys out here today, we’re melting. It’s all Topshop girls and Choc Ice’s up in Merrion Square, and it’s very hard work altogether. We’re into the inevitable waiting game now, when two people want to hit the pub but both know it might be slightly too early in [...]

Read Full Post »

I spotted Daniel O’ Connell on Sackville Street.

I’ve always liked this old school advertisement for Elvery Sports, in the laneway opposite The Oval pub. Elvery’s is Ireland’s oldest sports shop, founded in 1847. It’s long been a staple of Dublin and indeed Irish life, with strong links to domestic sports. The Elvery’s at the bottom of O’ Connell Street was one I [...]

Read Full Post »

A Random Drop Inn: St. Olaf’s GAA Club (Sandyford)

The decor is a bit plain and there’s only one TV in the pub (important during World Cup season) but at €2.50 for a pint of fosters (all day, every day) I was not one to complain. Especially as I’ve acquired a certain taste for Fosters after two years studying and working in Belfield. It [...]

Read Full Post »

James Connolly commemoration leaflet, 1942.

This is a nice find, from the Irish Municipal Employees’ Trade Union, 1942. The back of the leaflet was clearly used in 1942 by someone dealing with union finances, as it is littered with figures and sums. Union members are encouraged to attend a commemoration in memory of Connolly on May Day, and also to [...]

Read Full Post »

A Random Drop Inn: The Pavilion Bar, Trinity College Dublin

A bit unlike any other pub I’ve visited over the course of this experiment, in that you’re normally out the door when you’re spotted with cans (not that Come Here To Me engage in that sort of carry-out carry on.) Here, they’re on sale, and students are lashing into the Bavaria like it’s going out [...]

Read Full Post »

This is the best trip I’ve ever been on…

The Champions League; The most-watched sporting event worldwide, with an estimated 100 million viewers every year. To most football fans in Ireland, it means following the progress of an English or a Scottish team; generally one of those same six teams who appear every year with little variation. It means pubs in Dublin City Centre [...]

Read Full Post »

In The Sun.

Come In And Visit. If you saw my recent post, showing photographs of O’ Connell Street on the day after Lord Nelson said farewell, you’d notice this familiar shopfront in the background. In the reflection you can see The Happy Ring House, another great O’ Connell Street shopfront. This guy is appearing all over Dublin. [...]

Read Full Post »

Let’s all like TOTALLY bring this government down guys!

A gem of a ‘political’ leaflet discovered under the bed. Picture this. It’s late 2008. Thousands of students on the street. The angry OAP’s are out for some argy bargy, and to save their Medical Cards. Red flags, black flags and a few red and black flags fly high. Ógra Shinn Féin X Branch and [...]

Read Full Post »

The Atrix Singles

Great band. Great name. Great singles. Their first The Moon Is Puce came out in 1979 on Mulligan Records. It was produced by Philip Chevron, then a member of The Radiators From Space and later of The Pogues. This is the first time that the B-Side Wendy’s In Amsterdam has been uploaded online. In 1980, [...]

Read Full Post »

The grave of Vonolel, the famous and bemedalled horse.

Many people walking the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham will pass a small grave without noticing, and yet this grave is perhaps the most unusual grave in Dublin itself. In the grounds of the Hospital, one finds the final resting place of ‘Vonolel’, twenty-nine years old on passing, but a veteran of conflict. [...]

Read Full Post »

A Random Drop Inn: The Palace Bar, Fleet Street

We’re walking back towards Westmoreland Street, and the 67A bus, which will carry my friend Shane to his rented front door. Well, the whole house is rented, not just the front door, but you know what I mean. The time-table itself almost suggests we go for a pint. “You’ve a good forty minutes lads, go [...]

Read Full Post »