Over the last year or so we have been keeping a list of interesting facts about pubs that we come across. Here’s 18 of them!
1. The beer garden in Toners pub utilises predator bird noises to keep away the local seagull population. You can hear it playing around every 18 minutes or so.
2. A man successfully used a sketch he did of the interior of a pub from memory to track down the name of the pub and find the recipe for their chicken hot pot. He submitted the sketch on reddit, we shared it on Publin, and the chef was tracked down to share his apparently unforgettable recipe for the dish. It turned out to be The Oarsman in Ringsend. Link.
3. Apparently the phrase “Are you going for a jar” or referring to a drink as a jar originated in The Gravediggers in Glasnevin. The claim was made in the documentary ‘The Irish pub’.
4. The Dawson lounge, Ireland’s smallest pub, is so small that they had to install cushions on the ceiling of the ladies toilet to stop people from banging their heads when they stood up after using the facilities.
5. The poddle, Dublin’s forgotten river, runs directly underneath Bad Bobs in Temple bar. It flows through Dublin castle and out through a grate into the Liffey, passing under Bad Bobs bar who, apparently, in the past have had some trouble with flooding. At 5.38 in the video they are under the bar.
6. A somewhat morbid fact, there is a tombstone embedded in the floor of The Wiley Fox on the quays. It’s unlikely that it was ever used for its intended purpose, but you still wouldn’t want to be contemplating your existence and look down to see that.
7. There’s a possibility that a secret tunnel once ran from Brogans bar on dame street to Dublin castle across the road. Reference to the tunnel was made in the 1969 book ‘Irish pubs of character’. ‘For anyone not wishing to pay for his round of drinks, there is an underground passage, but this unfortunately leads straight to Dublin castle.’ Link.
8. Seats from the original Lansdowne road can still be found outside in the rooftop beer garden of O’Neills pub on Suffolk street. They even have a plaque beside them certifying their authenticity.
9. The Patriots Inn in Kilmainham, named with the executed and imprisoned leaders of the 1916 rebellion in mind was actually once known as ‘The Queen Victoria Inn’. That’s quite a change around.
10. Leo Neary, after whom Nearys pub on Chatham street was named was once honorary consul to the republic of Guatemala.
11. The Palace bar on Fleet street was bought in 1946 by William Aherne for £28,500.
12. Shelbourne football club, one of Dublin’s oldest clubs, was founded in Slatterys bar in Beggars Bush. A plaque was recently unveiled to mark the fact.
13. Lego enthusiasts in Ireland use Jack Nealons pub on Capel street as their meeting place. One devotee went so far as to create the pub out of lego.
14. Yuya Abe, from Japan, set out last year to visit and have a pint in every pub in Dublin. He’s working his way through Mac Maloney’s ‘Dublin pubspotters guide’, getting barmen to sign it when he visits. He’s still working his way through, but last we heard he was on number 260 or thereabouts.
15. The Glimmerman in Stoneybatter have probably the oddest decoration in the city, Maggie Thatcher and Charlie Haughey in a bed hanging from the ceiling.
16. The Liquor Rooms have a cocktail that comes with a joke attached to the stem. The cocktail is called ‘Funny in Sweden’. Some of them can be intentionally bad jokes.
17. A number of pub toilets have been stickered with a poster called ‘Learn on the loo, Gaeilge while you poo’. The poster gives you some handy phrases in Irish that you might use on a night out, such as asking for a light, ordering pints, and even a few insults thrown in.
18. A couple were such devotees of The Long Hall pub on Georges street that they had a replica of the pub for their wedding cake. Other couples have had Johnnie Foxes and The Gravediggers on their cakes.
If you’re looking for more of this type of thing, we have another list of 25 facts: Link.
