1000933 Bottom of the Hill

It takes quite a talent to renovate a pub after a fire and make it look like it hasn't been modernised since the Celtic Tiger; but they managed it here. Or possibly they just fixed the roof and reopened a bit that wasn't as badly damaged.

The Bottom of the Hill was gutted by fire in 2018 - it is notable that the section shown here is not the section I was in - but was quickly repaired and reopened in 2019. However, the owners have long-term plans that involve demolition; so I suspect the renovations may have extended to weatherproofing and cleaning up the bar that I was in to let it reopen...

So, going back to 2006 - but with two decades of wear and tear on top - I was greeted with a cash only bar; my second since the pandemic but first in an urban area. I was also greeted with many of the taps being off, including Smithwicks - forcing me to have a Guinness. Which was fine.

The pub has multiple fruit machines - both questionably legal and not that common a sight in Ireland - to add to its wonderful atmosphere. Thankfully there's other choices of pub in Finglas village.

N1312 O'Riordans / Drogheda Lodge / Full Shilling

A pub with three names. Or only one name; going on its external signage.

The street frontage of this pub says O'Riordans, a name I didn't have recorded and had to rapidly resort to google to verify that I was in the right place; but once inside the fixtures and fittings had Drogheda Lodge on them. Going back on Streetview shows that in 2014, the frontage said Drogheda Lodge but with O'Riordans visible on the lower section; by 2017 it was just O'Riordans - so this isn't a recent change. 

The Full Shilling name is emblazoned on the *back* of the pub, but to an area only accessible via one of two laneways. The entrance to one of these laneways used to be branded for it (and even further back used to feature a pub clock, the remains of which are in this image), but no longer is and indeed I believe was locked up when I visited.

Despite this, the Full Shilling name is still used for part of the premises, with it being the only name still active on social media, advertising their nightclub.

The main bar section of the three-named pub also has TVs with two purposes - there were specific TVs with "RACING TV" or "FOOTBALL TV" on placards beneath them, presumably pre-empting arguments that have happened before and would again without them.

It also has USB chargers everywhere, which proved quite handy after the bunker-like construction of the last two pubs - and this one - hammering my phone battery to a ridiculous extent.

Shamrock Lodge

"Lounge to be vacated by 6pm, ticketed after 6pm" said the signs on the door - and I forgot to ask why; assuming I'd find it out online afterwards. It turns out that all I can find online is the special food menu that was offer for Good Friday here; not that it was easy to miss - the pub stank of fish.

The barman apologised for this without prompting - the chowder was specifically blamed - and I sat in the then still free to access lounge to have my Beamish.

This pub has a signed members/regulars only section, a pool room in this case - something I've only ever seen once before; and which I now believe to be gone, in N0199 Delaneys in Smithfield. It is a room between the bar and the lounge here, whereas in Delaneys it was the front bar of the pub.

I should probably have had food here - the regular menu was on offer for non-Catholics, so I didn't have to eat the chowder I'd already smelled too much of - but I assumed there'd be another pub doing food in Finglas village. There wasn't; but I survived.

N0624 Abbey Tavern (Finglas)

Don't judge a book by its cover a pub by its history. In this case, the pub has a former operator that many would rather forget ever held the keys to the premises - Catherine Nevin (who I had forgotten was actually dead) - and a series of shootings, one fatal. 

Back in the 1980s, this premises - as the Barry House - was the first pub that Catherine & Tom Nevin ran, before moving on to Jack Whites, where he was murdered at her behest in 1996.

A pub with a chequered history beyond that, and has been the scene of a number of shootings, each it seems under a different name best forgotten - including the Cappagh House, Cappagh Nua and the Finglas Inn (not connected to other pubs of this name).

After a fairly lengthy closure, and a full refit - including a new traditional pub shopfront to stop it looking like an oversized breeze block - the pub reopened in 2018 and has not hit the headlines since, thankfully. 

What's here now is a fairly normal suburban pub, welcoming and open to all. There was a single craft tap on offer - my local Farringtons - but there were issues with the keg, so I had to slum it with a (bottled - I believe keg has finished) Macardles; what a terrible pity.

N1422 Leonards

"Regulars Only" is something you'd think I might hear from door staff occasionally doing this - but I don't, because I usually go during the day when there aren't any.

In the case of Leonards, it was written on the doors instead. But considering the pub advertises its daytime food offerings extensively - social media posts as well as signs outside - I just pretended I temporarily couldn't read and went on in. And was served without proving any regular status.

This ticking trip was on Good Friday, a day on which I have little experience of the potential crowds - we've only had a few that we can drink on, with a pandemic in the interim; and I think this is my first ticking day on a Good Friday. From this pub on, there was a noticeable element to the Good Friday crowd -  tradesmen who have done a mornings work and knocked off early for the long weekend - with a table of Des Kelly fitters having a fried lunch amongst the customers here.

The "Regulars Only" sign is clearly there for a reason; I am guessing relating to weekends and evenings; but there seems to be no problem popping in here during the day to try stake out your regular status. This is very much an "estate pub", but in the Irish tradition - it is in a housing estate, it is in a shopping centre; but it has a pitched roof (well, it has a mansard roof - but its not a flat roofed box), it is in good condition inside and out and it has windows. 

S2031 Merry Ploughboy

Maybe if we move on again, we'll get some space?

No. And even though the two bus loads that arrived here, another show bar, were directed upstairs; there wasn't even a perch in here. But there was a covered smoking area - and a vastly larger partially covered, but still completely soaked one, that looks from Streetview to have been built for the 'outdoor summer' of 2021.

This trip was never about finding a nice comfy pub to sit down in, it was to tick places that are harder to get to public transport - and despite the large bus park here, you can't get here easily on regular buses - there are eight services a day to/from Dundrum Luas stop on weekdays and zero on weekends.

It also wasn't about watching the rugby match, which was creating much of the demand in the pubs; and ended badly while we were standing inside the pub before heading outside. At least the ticking trip was a success.

1002618 Taylors Three Rock

Would we get some respite from how busy the Southsides pubs were here, in this vast premises?

Would we bollox. Only one area appeared to be open to normal punters - this is a show bar, and the buses for same arrived when we were leaving later - and despite this section being pretty big; we ended up perching at a barrel inside the door.

This is the final premises I needed to visit that gives me a double tick - there are two licences here; a hotel (public bar) licence and a theatre licence - a duality that allows serving during normal hours without requiring there to be a performance on; and to serve during a performance without needing a specific late exemption. 

Once upon a time, these were common across Dublin - most nightclubs and some late bars had them to allow late opening, which at times went much later than what became allowable after the 2008 "reforms" - the first stage of the neo-prohibitionist streak of recent decades. Many premises have got rid of the theatre licence still, but Taylors is still present. I'm not sure if the hotel is actually available to book these days, but there is no requirement to keep the hotel going to keep the licence going; once it is a public licence - the residents only version, which I don't cover, needs residents to exist.

I assume that the bulk of the trade in the section that I visited was locals, rather than people early for the show; and it gives the impression of a nicely busy locals pub from that crowd.