Is fada go bhfuil turais liteartha do thuraiseoirí dírithe ar lámhacán thithe tábhairne Bhleá Cliath. Duine de stairithe aitheanta na cathrach is ea Donal Fallon, a bhfuil leabhar nua aige le foilsiú fé stair shóisialta agus cultúrtha na dtithe ársa seo.
Dublin pubs are special (or the special ones are at least), and I hold a multitude of fond memories set in many of them. I love the presence and the partitions of the Gravedigger’s. I love McDaid’s and its famous ghosts. And who could not love the Cobblestone when the ceol is flowing freely, spilling out onto Smithfield through the open windows like smoke?
Duine gur bhreá leis tábhairní Bhleá Cliath is ea mac na cathrach féin, Dónal Fallon, stairí agus láithreoir an podcraoladh móréillimh, Three Castles Burning. I ndáiríre, is mó an sásaimh dó cuid de an dtithe seo go bhfuil leabhar scríofa aige ina dtaobh, agus bhí d'adh ormsa dul chun cainte leis faoi. Thóg sé thart timpeall na cathrach mé tráthnóna geal Máirte. Chasamar le chéile ag an Palace Bar.
"For me, I think you can tell a lot about The Palace before you even step foot in it. The plaques outside the pub are a great telling. Three of them are world-renowned writers: Flann O’Brien, Brendan Behan, and Paddy Kavanagh. Con Houlihan (the subject of a fourth plaque) was alive at the time that these plaques were unveiled- very respected sportswriter from Castleisland, County Kerry. I love the plaque. I love that it captures his Kerry-ness; 'Whenever my county are in the All-Ireland final, my head says Kerry and my heart says the Kingdom.’
Tar éis babhta deoch, tógann Donal isteach mé go seomra gleoite cúil an Palace. Is ann atá roinnt pictiúir ar leith de Kavanagh, na gCopaleen agus Heaney leis an ealaíontóir Ciarraíoch, Liam O'Neill. Ní rabhas féin ar an eolas faoi Heaney bheith ag teacht chun an Palace ach creid nó ná creid, bhí Donal in ann tuairisc ó bhéal a thabhairt dom ar bhualadh le file Dhoire ann.
"I was lucky enough to meet Heaney in the back bar of The Palace. I remember being told by someone who knew him well that Seamus loves talking poetry, but not the poetry of Seamus Heaney. So, I approached him, and we had a really good and deep conversation about Michael Hartnett.
Ar aghaidh linn arís ag siúl tré Bharra Temple chomh fada le leac cúthail ar Shráid an Iústásaigh, láthair, tráth, an Eagle Tavern.
"Pub is short for public house, and public houses are a Victorian invention in a lot of ways, in terms of the regulation of the industry and the standardisation of opening hours and rules. For me, it was important to go back earlier than that to the taverns, the alehouses, even the coffeehouses of earlier times, and none are as important as the Eagle Tavern. This is very much the birthplace of Republican democracy and Republican ideals in Ireland. This is where the first meeting of the Dublin branch of the United Irishmen happened."
Drink was important to the United Irishmen, to put it lightly. If you read Tone’s diaries, the word ‘huzzah’ always emerges after a few too many drinks. The toasts that would have been raised at this site would have told you a lot about the time. Toasts were raised to the spirit of the French mob, toasts were raised to Tom Paine, and the most popular toast at meetings of the United Irishmen in Dublin was to King George the Last.
Chuamar as sin go Sráid Sheoirse Mhór Theas le fáil amach faoin bear is mó aerach i Bleá Cliath, The George.
"To people in their twenties and younger, The George is a symbol of recent times. It’s associated with the referendums; it’s a place where the gay marriage results would have been celebrated. The results would have been read in Dublin Castle, right next door, so it was right there, it was right at the centre of the action really, in terms of that day. I think that’s really important to young Dubliners."
"When I was researching the book, I was asking older people from the LGBT community what it means to them, and they would tell you that The George has two parts. I find the main body of The George is a nightclub, by design and by feeling, and the little bar is known, affectionately, as ‘Jurassic,’ as in Jurassic Park. This was the place where the older members of the community tended to congregate."
"Whether they call it ‘Jurassic’ or ‘Bridies,’ in honour of a former bar member, it’s a really important space. Going back for the book and researching what I thought would be gay bars in Dublin, were actually sort of gay-friendly bars, that in the time before decriminalisation, you would walk in and see people like the famous actor and director Micheál Mac Liammóir and his partner Hilton Edwards. Everyone knew these bars had gay clienteles, but before decriminalisation, that could never be said out loud."
Ba ansin a shroicheamar ceann de na pubanna is ansa le Donal, Grogan's ar Shráid Liam.
"I think what’s great before you even step foot in Grogan’s, the UNESCO City of Literature plaque is there. To mark a pub as part of the story of Dublin being the world city of literature, it says a lot."
When we walk into this pub, immediately your eyes are drawn towards the stained-glass windows at either end of the bar. They’re the work of Katherine Lamb. She was a young graduate from NCAD at the time and she was commissioned by Tommy Smith, the former owner, to create these two works of art. One honours what they call ‘the day people,’ and one honours ‘the night people.’ Among ‘the day people,’ we see Donal McCann, who was a famous actor from the Abbey, we see Thérèse Cronin, Anthony Cronin’s partner, and we just see an incredible insight into Dublin at a moment in time. I think it’s one of the most striking and original features of any pub in the country.
Tommy Smith, the former proprietor who ran this place, together with Paddy Kennedy, was a great champion of the arts, and so too was Paddy in his own way. When they allowed art to hang on the walls, they were adamant that the pub would take no commission, and that every cent of what was sold on the walls would be given to the artists themselves."
Tá an traidisiúin seo fós beo in Grogan's, agus roinnt saothar ealaíne fós crochta agus ar díol ar fallaí na háite, mar chomhartha ómóis agus dea-tholla díobh siúd a chruthaigh. Bhí áthas orm bualadh le Eoin Kennedy gur leis féin agus Donal Smith anois an tigh.Bhí Cuma an bhróid air bheith freagrach as oidhreacht shaibhir ealaíne an pub a choineál sa tsiúl, mar a mhínigh sé dom,
"Both Donal (Smith) and I grew up in an environment around art and artists. It was important to preserve that. We wanted a pub for artists today, a space in a city where that can be difficult to find."
Admhaíonn Fallon nach bhfuil dánlann sa tír nach nglacanna le coimisiúin. Insíonn sé dom faoin 'special dispensation’ a tugadh do Kathleen Behan, máthair na Behans uilig, a cheadaigh di amhrán a rá in Grogan’s. Is annamh a thugtar an cead inniu, cé go bhfuil eisceachtaí ann. D’inis Donal dom faoi cead speisialta a fuair sé féin agus a bhean, lá a bpósta:
"When we (himself and his wife) politely asked, having met in Grogan’s, we were given permission, and Macdara Yeats sang An Chúilfhionn. So that was a special dispensation, as they used to say, a very special one, and to be present in that moment, when a song rang out in Grogan’s, felt like a real honour."
Ag pointe amháin, agus sinn idir dhá thábhairne, dúirt Donal liom, "I often think about the joke in Ulysses, how do you go across Dublin without passing a pub? Nowadays, you couldn’t walk across the city without crossing a closed-down pub." Tá sé seo fíor fud fad na tíre, le breis agus dhá mhíle tábhairne a dúnadh in Éirinn idir 2005 agus 2024.
Sa pub deireanach d’fhiafraíos ar Donal faoin áit atá ag na tithe tábhairní in Éireann comhaimseartha.
"Take where we are at the moment, the Harold House. This is in an area where there’s less and less public housing all the time. I feel that there was a purposeful movement of working-class people out of the city centre, but this pub on a Saturday night, people are here who are five or six generations in this area. Then there are people here who are so-called hipsters, whatever that means, that moved in a year ago, and everyone is friendly. I think that’s very special."
"Advertising people seem to me to constantly chase youth. They’re always asking themselves, ‘what do young people like? How do we appeal to young people?’ But actually, the big thing that they’ve missed, I think, is that young people are drawn to heritage, and they really like history. People are drawn to a sense of something being older than themselves."
"The Cobblestone is a particularly brilliant example of this. What happened in The Cobblestone was entirely authentic. In the back bar, a monthly singers club became the nucleus of a whole scene. You had Macdara Yeats, Lisa O’Neill, members of Lankum, we could go on and on and rattle off fifty more names. The Cobblestone has remained true to itself at every step of the way. Tom Mulligan has crafted the pub around the music scene. He has totally allowed the music scene to dictate the pub. No PR firm could match it, because authenticity makes the Cobblestone."
Ag an bpointe seo, tharraing fear a bhí ag ól ag an gcúntar ár n-aird, go béasach, ar leac cuimhneacháin ar an mballa den gcarachtar ionúin Bleá Cliathach, a raibh aithne air mar Bang Bang, as na screadanna shúgartha lámhaigh a chaitheadh sé ar dhaoine ag siúl thar bráid, a chloíghfeadh leis an imeartas. Mar chuid den leac tá eochair, ar a dtabharfadh sé a Colt 45 air. Bhí ana-chur amach ag Donal ar Bang Bang, dar ndóigh, agus ba léir a chion ar an stráinséar ina ghnúis. Lean sé leis ag rá,
"I think what just happened there is such a (great) example of why a pub is special. Because people will just interject, and they’ll talk about the local characters. That’s what I love about this pub. People here talk about Bang Bang and other Dublin street characters, and they’ll tell you about them. That’s really special actually. That won’t happen in many city centre pubs- people don’t do that. So, for me, what happened there is a classic example of how Harold House is a lovely social mix of a pub.
What is incredibly boring, I think, in Pub-land at the moment is the rise of the social media influencer. That’s been a real phenomenon of recent times, and people standing on street corners asking, ‘What’s the best? What’s the best coffee in Dublin? What’s the best pizza in Dublin?’ This is all totally subjective. There are pubs I adore that other people may not like. So, I was very conscious when I was writing this book that I didn’t want to write twelve chapters on twelve pubs, because there’s a tendency in the social media influencer age to really romanticise a handful of public houses, when actually the industry as a whole is quite interesting. So, to take a thematic approach, like I wrote about things like women in the pub, or the temperance movement, or the pubs in the Revolution, allowed me to create a larger tapestry of the pubs."
Deirim le Dónal ansin gur leabhar faoi stair shóisialta Bhleá Cliath ag baint úsáide as na dtábhairní chun an scéal a insint, seachas leabhar faoi thithe tábhairní, "Which is a great way of putting it. This book is not telling the reader, ‘Here are the ten best pubs in Dublin and you better listen to me because I’ve got a million followers.’ It’s more saying, ‘Here’s a history of Dublin told through its public houses.’"
Le linn an lae, ag coisíocht le Donal thar sráideanna plódaithe doirneoige, cuireadh stop leis go rí-mhinic ag a chomhshaoránaigh Bhleá Cliathacha, ag tréaslú a shaothar leis, a bhainis san áireamh fiú. Ba léir an chion agus gean a bhí ag daoine air agus roinneadh an bhail céanna orthu. Ba léir domsa ansin go bhfuil staid ag Donal féin anois atá gach pioc chomh buan is atá na carachtair agus na láthair gur mór leis féin, agus a scéalta a bhfuil bailithe ag Donal le n-insint.
Donal Fallon’s The Dublin Pub: A Cultural and Social History will be released in Summer 2025. The Three Castles Burning podcast has been running since 2019.
Photography by Billy Woods, photograph of Seán Óg Ó Murchú by Brian Lincoln
