Come Here To Me!

A half price Sunday at Pygmalion/ 59 South William Street.

I am now part of the furniture here.

Amazingly, I spot the same faces every Sunday. Saying that, maybe it’s not that amazing at all. Half-price drinks are exactly what they say on the tin, and by 6pm there is never a seat in the house. Yesterday, a mishmash of heartbroken Dubs, a scattering on grinning Corkonians,city-slickers, hip kids and wise punters who followed the sign outside to half price paradise ignored a rainy Sunday for something better.

Pygmalion is normally a tad expensive for my liking. By a tad, I mean a good bit. A good-sized bottle of lager might cost €2.80 or €3 on a Sunday, so in my head I’m almost thinking ‘imagine that on a Monday’. Sticking to the taps but, and it is an absolute steal.

It seems the place to head to here is actually……outside. Almost every week large chunks of my time here is spent in the smoking area, where I’ve bumped into all sorts of old faces. Coppinger Row is a bit of a nightmare on occasion with beggars, much as I hate to say it. I will, every Sunday, pay the lad with the brass instrument to knock out When The Saints Go Marching In however.

Are there downsides to a pub like this on a Sunday? It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to work out that you’ll spend quite a lot of time waiting at the bar. It’s a small price to pay. While Pygmalion do a great selection of cocktails (two thumbs up for the Number Five) come late evening the option is more or less gone out the window, a packed bar and super-busy staff basically ruling it out. The staff are friendly, and if you get here early in the day I can’t over-sell the Number Five cocktail, which I’m sure they’ll whip up for you providing the bar doesn’t resemble the waiting line for a famine ship like it can come darkness.

The DJ’s in Pygmalion are well capable of keeping the night going, a mix of classic staples, indie/hip hop of old and new and generally danceable stuff. We can all dance on half price drinks, of course, and some awful gobshitery has been spotted.

South William Street may be the coolest street in the city apparently, but Dublin was never all that cool. This is, of course, a good thing. What is it then? Well, fun. Nowhere is more fun at 11.20pm on a Sunday night than this place. Plus, any tip of the hat in the direction of Shaw is most welcome.

Might see you there on Sunday?