In February 2015, I published an article listing the remaining dozen or so ‘early house’ pubs in Dublin city centre along with some brief historical background about why these bars have special licenses allowing them to open at 7am.
In the last four years, one pub has been demolished and two have closed down. A further three have been put on sale or sold so their futures are uncertain.
The Dark Horse Inn on George’s Quay closed its doors in July 2016 and reopened as a Starbucks coffee shop the following month. I wrote a long piece about the history of the building here.
Ned Scanlon’s on Townsend Street closed and the pub was demolished in October 2018.
The Capel Bar on Little Green Street, which featured in a 2016 Dublin Inquirer piece, closed in recent months and reopened as a “cocktail bar” called Bar 1661.
So as far as I can assert, these are the remaining 11 ‘early house’ pubs in Dublin city as of early 2019.
Northside:
1. The Boar’s Head, Capel Street (Mon-Fri 8am; Sat 11am)
2. The Chancery Inn, Inns Quay (Mon-Fri 9am; Sat 7am). The pub (and five apartments) was on the market for €1.7 million in May 2018 so it’s unclear what the future may bring.
3. Delaney’s, North King Street (Mon-Sat 9am). This pub was up for sale in 2016 but no changes has affected it yet it seems.
4. M. Hughes, Chancery Street (Mon-Fri 8.30am; Sat 7am)
5. The Metro, Parnell Street. After sixty years in business, the current owners have retired and put up the pub for sale in October 2018. So time will tell whether the pub will continue to open early.
6. Molloy’s, Talbot Street (Mon-Sat 7am)
7. Slattery’s, Capel Street (Mon-Sat 7am)
8. Madigan’s, Connolly Station (Mon-Fri 8.30am, Sat 10.30am)
Southside:
9. The Galway Hooker, Heuston Station
10. The Padraig Pearse, Pearse Street (Mon-Fri 7.30am; Sat 9am)
11. The Windjammer, Lombard Street (Mon-Sat 7am)
Outside of city:
– The Fisherman’s Bar, attached to The Waterside pub, in Howth (Mon-Sat 8am)
I haven’t seen the Chancery Inn open in the mornings for some months now.
I inquired with the Courts Service as to finding out which General Exemption Orders (the legal term for the early house licence) are in place and was told I would have to query every licence file individually with a non negligible search fee. So I gave up.
Ryans on Store Street opened early during the Lions tests in 2017 – it was an early house of old and this suggests they still have the GEO active. They are retain it or lose it (forever) as new ones can’t be issued so if it is still there they have spent rather a lot of money keeping it “just in case”!
Sorry something different. I am dying to find out if there is anyone left out there who remembers ‘Roddy the Rover’ and Captain Mac. Both were stalwarts of the Irish Press long ago. I am trembling to think that I am the only left standing or maybe there is someone out there who goes back that far
just found this link
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/pages-in-history/an-mangaire-sugach-the-li/the-lore-of-reading-1/i-meet-roddy-the-rover-18/
Thanks Neil! Joe Keane
Very good article. Thank you
[…] popular post from the start of the year concerned early houses (fewer, but still in existence), while there was also the curious tale of The Zodiac. It was goodbye […]
I remember visiting a pub at what was called the turkey market in 1966 the doors creaked open at 6am after a few drinks with mates and on way back to hotel saw another pub across the road so took the opportunity for a couple more.