Thomas Dudley a.k.a. Bang Bang was one of Dublin’s most loved and remembered street characters. Dudley was a big fan of cowboy films and in the 1950’s and 60’s he traveled all over Dublin staging mock shoot outs with people using a large church key as his “gun”.
2011 marked the 30th anniversary of his death and last week the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gerry Breen, presented Dublin City Archivist, Dr. Mary Clark with a key that belonged to Bang Bang.
The key was presented to the Lord Mayor by Gerry Doherty, a great friend of Thomas Dudley who held the key for many years and will now be available to view in the Reading Room of Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.
Used to be a restaurant, a mightily over priced shit hole of a restaurant it must be said, that had a portrait of him and other Dublin folk heroes all over the walls. Interesting to look at.
There’s a great quote in a book called Bockety by Desmond Ellis that went something along the lines of “you could only ever call yourself a true Dubliner if you were shot by Bang Bang. That was the mark of a true Dub…”
Incidentally, it’s all about the Portobello area Carax, I’ll throw it your way if you haven’t read it….
There is another photo of Bang Bang seated taken in Clonturk House taken in 1980 (I think). Bang bang..sounds our TD’s should be hearing everyday.
“sounds our TD’s should be hearing everyday.”
😀 Brillers.
[…] 2021 when the previous pub on the spot closed during the Covid shutdown. Its name now commemorates Thomas ‘Bang Bang’ Dudley, a renowned Dublin character who roamed the Liberties and surrounds, using a key to […]