Famous Dublin pubs that are no more

vafankillar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123608918#Comment_123608918

saw all the signage gone but wasn't sure if it's defo no refurbishment or anything. tho it's gone downhill properly over the past few years along with the surrounding area.

not sure what would go down well there either instead.

vafankillar

incidently another early house licence gone now. tho i dont think it was being used for obvsious reasons

L1011

Railway station pubs are their own form of licence, can still be spun up fresh and open early.

L1011

It's completely stripped out to the point that I suspect it's getting a refit and a new name (and possibly operator) in quickly.

Always had decent numbers drinking but the food side never seemed to do good business. Never ate there when I worked in the actual train station complex even cause it never seemed appealing.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123631846#Comment_123631846

Good to hear. I often popped in there if I had delayed trains or if I was meeting someone near Connolly and had time to kill. Lads were sound.

The Nal

Only a 1.7% decrease in Dublin.

37% in Limerick! 😮

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/0714/1523333-pub-closures-report/

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/91282261#Comment_91282261

These pub names seem to be more British than Irish. I take it that's probably also the reason why they are gone? Crown, Kings Arms, Crown, Kings Head, George, Victoria, Prince of Wales, Royal Oak, would all suggest that.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633411#Comment_123633411

That was clearly not a list of actual Dublin pubs.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633431#Comment_123633431

It's possible that the poster mentioned pubs from somewhere else in Ireland.

They all sound British to me. I suppose after the British left, many pub names may have changed as well? Don't think that a King's Arms would have been too long in business after the 1920ies…

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633553#Comment_123633553

It is almost certainly a list of generic pub names they found somewhere else on the internet

It is also from eleven years ago!

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633633#Comment_123633633

Pubs should last a bit longer than eleven years. One of the posters mentioned them.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633879#Comment_123633879

It was a post moaning about the existence of the thread, with a throw-away list of pub names. It means nothing.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633880#Comment_123633880

Interesting. It wasn't obvious to me.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633633#Comment_123633633

11 years to the day aswell, how bizarre. They sound like they have a brain injury or something, AI bot using a hacked account?

odyssey06

Smyths of Haddington Road to be demolished… to be replaced by apartments and a planned basement pub.

Courtney Lounge Bars Ltd now has permission to demolish all existing buildings on site at 10 Haddington Road and construct a four-storey and part five-storey mixed-use building comprising a pub at basement and ground floor and six residential units at the upper floors… The board has ordered that the pub’s outdoor seating area shut at 10pm each night as part of the conditions attached.

https://www.thejournal.ie/demolition-smyths-pub-dublin-4-approved-apartments-6772700-Jul2025/

deandean

Baker's Corner pub in Kill O'The Grange has been demolished.

I had many a lunch in it when I was working in the area.

It's being replaced with student accommodation.

MOH

McCloskey's in Donnybrook has finally reopened two days ago but .... they've utterly destroyed the place.

It could have used a refurb but it's now a soulless block that feels more like an airport restaurant than a pub.

And what they've done to the beer garden is borderline criminal. Just concreted the whole thing and put a roof over it.

Would have probably been better if they'd just gone ahead and built apartments instead of a pub

odyssey06

Donal Fallon has a new book out on the history of Dublin pubs. Short article here on some famous ones lost over the years.

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/former-pubs-in-dublin-history-donal-fallon-6867635-Nov2025/

Hodors Appletart

Underdog closed on Sunday 9th 😥

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982848#Comment_123982848

Craft beer boom is over.

VW 1

Wouldn't call them part of the boom, they were one of the first and one of the best around imo. Such a pity they had to leave their original premises, the place on capel street is a terrible building and leads to none of the atmosphere the first bar had. The predecessor of underdog in there was also poor, even when they had good beers on the layout is just really bad.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982912#Comment_123982912

Was that the place that did tacos?

Yeah its an odd spot alright. Nowhere really.

L1011

The location isn't the only issue - there's a succesful craft beer bar under 200m away; and a craft-and-pizza bar literally visible from the front door.

Layout - its a former hotel lobby extended lengthways in to another building - was the biggest issue I could identify. I have no idea if doing food would have helped. One night I was in there, there was someone using the kitchen but presumably only as a trial. They weren't selling from it either, just dropping stuff out to specific people.

There might have been other things to try like cask - which might have been done, I was in there a lot but not constantly - but that's also not guaranteed to help.

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982917#Comment_123982917

The beerhouse that was there before that was great, pint and a pizza for a tenner, and decent drink and grub at that.

That's probably going back 5/6 years now, pre-covid. Never made it into the taco place.

Hodors Appletart

I know Paddy well. And I know a good bit about why the venture, ultimately, failed.

Location was a huge issue for him, footfall even in that 200m (I assume you mean Black Sheep) is very different.

And are you referring to Boco as the pizza place? That's much more a restaurant than a bar imo, so not very comparable.

I ran an event in Underdog not long ago, and it involved me being able to see the cost of beer, to the bar, before he had any kind of mark-up for himself added. It was eye-watering, the prices some Irish breweries are charging for pretty basic product, and then the cost to the punter that he'd be having to charge to cover the rent on the place, the wages for his one staff member and then for him to take a wage too. Unsustainable for what he was trying to achieve.

I asked him numerous times why he wasn't doing a food offering, because many times I've either organised or attented an event where we sent hundreds of euro over the road for pizza. The wages for a chef, even for basic stuff. Food wastage considerations, and there was a spend involved in getting the existing kitchen up to spec for constant use.

He told me there were only between 100-120 "regulars" - people he could pretty much name and tell me what they preferred to drink. I knew most of them myself, if not by name then by "you know yer man, always in the green runners" type of thing. For a pub in town, I think thats a bit extraordinary too, and obviously that's not enough repeat business. Like, I was probably in there once or twice a fortnight and people know me in there. I know who the "proper" regulars are, the lads you never don't see, and there are maybe 20 of them.

I could go on, and I feel so sad that the place has gone.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123983011#Comment_123983011

Sad alright. Met Paddy a couple of times. Lovely fella.

The price of craft beer is a total pisstake now. Not sustainable.

L1011

Boco is the beer and pizza place. Front is a bar, back area they would probably prefer if you were eating, but will seat you to drink. Gets a lot of meeting groups in early in the evenings for that; but that isn't any guarantee of useful income from that.

GBB tried just having an identikit beer and pizza place in the Underdog unit and it didn't work, so just copying exactly definitely doesn't work.

Passenger

Haven't spoken to Paddy in ages as I moved and dont be around but did he mention setting up somewhere else or is Underdog no more?

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123983085#Comment_123983085

Underdog as a concept is done, There were talks of whoever is taking the lease off him buying the brand, but that's 1 of a thousand rumors that were floating around the last few weeks.

Paddy is going to take a well deserved break, but i don't think he's in a position to be starting anything anytime soon.

Breweries and pub groups should be kicking down his door though, The scene is infinitely better with him in it even if it's just forcing others to be less lazy.

VW 1

Agreed on Paddy himself being a good front of house guy, knows his stuff and was always great to chat to. Think he's known for a while the writing was on the wall, and it's a real shame. Half the craic in the original spot was being able to sit and chat to the barmen and the regulars and even though I only dropped in infrequently, it always had a community feel about it as well as genuine excitement and passion for the beers they were serving.