The Hop House on Parnell St, for some unknown reason, has been a popular haunt for lefties, radicals and fellow travelers for a number of years. There has been a public house on the premises for at least 163 years. It was first named The Rotunda Tavern and then The Shakespeare.
I’ve tried my best to give you a snapshot of the history of 160 Parnell Street (formally Great Britain Street).
Thanks to Shaneew147 for looking up Thoms directory:
1948 – P. O’Shea, Shakespeare Bar
1938 – A.T. Duffy, wine and spirit merchant
1927 – Michl. Hayes, wine and spirit merchant
1914 – Mrs. Potter, grocer & wine merchant.
1894 – Sarah Daly, grocer. & wine merchant.
1884 – Andrew Daly, grocer & wine merchant
1879 – Sarah Ward, spirit merchant
1872 – John Ward, spirit merchant
1863 – John Ward, spirit merchant
1852 – John Ward, Rotunda Tavern
1848 – Daniel Shelly, vintner
The first newspaper reference I’ve found is from 1917 and shows the bar up for sale:
In 1921, Edward Bullock was up in court for selling whiskey, which he said was, ‘watered by mistake’:
In 1923, The Freeman’s Journal reports that the proprietress was fined £10 for having customers in the bar at 10:20pm:
In 1925, The Shakespeare is put for auction:
In 1971, The Irish Independent gave an interesting description of the pub:
Also from 1971, this old advertisement which was found by DFallon:
Two snaps from 1974, in the aftermath of the loyalist bombing.
”]”]The Hop House (with old Shakespeare sign) in 2010:
Great stuff.
I didn’t take much interest in this post when I saw it at the time.
However, in the last week I have discovered that my grandfather (the guy who was fished out of the Liffey at Eden Quay in 1918) had a brother, Francis, that I didn’t know about.
Francis died in the North Dublin Work House in 1928 and is listed in his death cert as “late of 160 Parnell Street*.
I have now incorporated this information into the page of my family history which shows present day views of where various members of the family lived.
http://photopol.com/lived/lived.html#FrancisMortimer
I have also included a link to this post.
Rath ar an obair.
Cheers Póló
Absolutely brilliant.
I worked the bar at the Shakespeare (and lived in a flat upstairs) for Eugene Carlin in the summer of ’99 as part of a student work abroad program..
From bouncers to senators, I met some of the finest folks in Ireland on both sides of the bar over those four months.
Being from Alabama, I heard a different (and equally dreadful) a capella version of “Sweet Home Alabama” at least once a week and my attempts to introduce sweet iced-tea to Dublin went of as poorly as my attempts to introduce grits.
Thank you for the nostalgia.
It’s lovely to see Scott’s Post here, I remember well the great times at the Shakespeare, the people were wonderful, Scott brought a new dimension to the Shakespeare, the lad from Alabama was welcomed and became just like a local, respected for his warm, kind, caring manner. Eugene
Lovely post Scott, you added a great presence too the Shakespeare, you are part of the history, often spoken of in warm terms as the lovely lad from Alabama, regards Eugene
Hi,
If anyone has any information regarding The Shakespeare between 1970s and 1995, please forward to mark.reilly98@gmail.com. I am very eager to gain any and all information that I can. Thank you.
[…] Parnell Street is sometimes called Dublin’s Chinatown, in that there is a pretty decent concentration of restaurants and supermarkets representing many different Asian cultures and cuisines, and you could do little better than listen to the excellent Three Castles Burning episode on the street and its history, which also highlights its many African and other influences – there’s a lot going on here. […]
does anybody remember a “washeteria” on Parnell Street which also had a B&B in 1971? I believe the owner was Sheila Gallagher.