Come Here To Me!

As you should know by now, every month this blog organises a pub-crawl. In rotation, a different person chooses the five pubs in advance, picks a meeting point in the city and makes sure not to let any details slip to the rest of the group about what pubs are to be visited.

Sunday, 19th September. 4pm, Love Lane.

Myself, HXCI and veteran JFlood meet up to start our 13th pub crawl.

This time around I chose the area of Beggars Bush and Lower Baggot Street. Firstly, because I worked in the neighborhood over the summer and though I got to know the place well, never set foot in any of its watering holes and secondly, seeing as it was the day of the All Ireland final, I guessed it was far enough away from Croke Park to ensure a pub crawl free of hordes of GAA fans.

Setting off at a few minutes past four, we crossed the historic Mount Street bridge, past No. 25 Northumberland Road, and into the area knows as Beggars Bush. (Yes, it did get its name for being the “traditional assembly-point for country vagrants”)

Our first stop of the afternoon was Jack Ryans of Beggars Bush. The first thing that struck was me was the amount of photographs along the wall opposite the bar. Thankfully they weren’t all the all too frequent mix match of Italia ’90 posters, cliche paddy wackery saying and reproduction sign posts. The photographs, all of the immediate area, showed the changes that had occurred over the last 300 years. That’s what you want to see in a pub. Something original. Something that you wouldn’t see anywhere else. I had read online that there was a picture of American poet John Berryman on the walls as well, who lived in the area and frequented Ryan’s Lounge in the 1960s, but I couldn’t see it myself.

We took our perfectly poured pints from the friendly barman (who said thanks at least three times) and settled down in the lounge. Here, we were joined by DFallon who admitted to taking the scenic route from the Quays to Beggars Bush (via Leeson Street!). At €3.80 a pint, these were the cheapest and quite possibly the best pints we had this pub crawl.

Jack Ryans, Beggars Bush. 2010

Jack Ryans, Beggars Bush. 1962.

After a lengthy discussion on the recently screened James Connolly documentary, we left Jack Ryans and headed down Haddington Road, past the Church bell tower that British snipers used during the Rising, and into Smyths, the less upmarket neighbour of The 51. Smyth’s is a perfectly nice, small pub that proved to be a life-saver as it began to lash rain shortly after we arrived. (It became famous in 1999 for being the first pub in Irish history to be sold online) We were the only ones in the ‘Bar’ side of the pub and enjoyed our window seats. The pints were fine and came to €4.50 each. A price that you’d expect to pay for a pint of Guinness in Dublin city but it was noted that Jack Ryans (The Beggars Bush) which was less than 5 minutes walk away charged 70c less. JFlood, the only smoker of the group, remarked on the large, plastic covered ‘smoking area’ at the back entrance of the bar.

Back entrance to Smyths. Undated.

Onwards and upwards. We slipped down Eastmoreland Lane and took a right, bringing us onto Upper Baggot Street. (I hate backtracking on pub crawls). The Waterloo and Searsons are next door to each other and during my ‘pub crawl homework’, it was a difficult choice on which one to pick. I had never set foot in either. In the end, I chose The Waterloo manly for the fact that Searsons had been recently bought over by the Superpub empire Thomas Reads. I had hoped The Waterloo retained some charm, it was like many other pubs in Dublin in the 1960s, a haunt of Patrick Kavanagh and Brendan Behan.

Today, the Waterloo is a large, ‘trendy’ bar. ‘Souless’ might be a little bit strong, but it’s not far off. The most memorable physical aspect of the place is the towering church-like roof. There was a Christening party well under way upstairs but we managed to get decent enough seats in the empty smoking room. A couple of kids started the classic game of seeing ‘who can run around our table as fast as possible without hurting themselves’. One little boy banged his hand against a table and started crying, he lost. Finishing our average pints (€4.50) and grabbing a handful of free leaflets and magazine on the way out, we made our way back Southside.

Stomach’s were growling at this stage, so we made a pit stop at Beshoff’s on Mespil Road. Here, we were joined by our Corkonian CHTM! pub crawl virgin Mary who was in jolly moods after the Rebel County’s win.

The Waterloo.

Our fourth stop of the evening was Larry Murphy’s on Lower Baggot Street. I expecting more from the place. It was empty, dark and a little bit depressing. No one was particularly happy with their pints (€4.50). The decor wasn’t interesting, the barman wasn’t very friendly and the loud jukebox music didn’t really help sell the place. We were great happy to move off. (That saying the pub does enjoy favourable reviews on Yelp, they all mention “after -work” weekday drinks though)

Larry Murphy's Pub. (Photo - Chris Brearley)

Last but not least was Hartigan’s. I had originally had picked it out for my first pub crawl but like a lot of pubs that day, it was closed. The wooden paneling and general decor was quite nice on the eye. Despite having such strong links with generations of UCD students, I was a bit disappointed about the lack of Earlsfort Terrace memorabilia on the walls. (Former residents of nearby Hatch Hall (UCD student residency) still meet socially in Hartigans pub on the first Wednesday of every calendar month; a social gathering known as “Hatch Wednesday”)

Though Mary was disappointed with the response of the bartender after she asked for her pint of Carlsberg to be changed, nearly everyone agreed that these were the best pints of Guinness (€4.35) of the pub crawl. Close call between Hartigan’s and The Beggars Bush definitely.

Hartigan's

If you ever find yourself in the Beggars Bush area, do drop into Jack Ryans. If you ever get stuck in bad weather on Haddington Road, check out Smyth’s rather than The 51. I wouldn’t go out of my way but if your ever on Lower Baggot Street, The Waterloo is probably your best bet. Avoid Larry Murphy’s unless there’s a big after-work session going on and if you like your Guinness, you could do a lot worse than Hartigan’s.