We’ll say up front that we are very much not night owls.
And perhaps that’s the major reason that we didn’t really ‘vibe’ with McGowan’s, which brands itself as a late-night establishment, beautiful frontage notwithstanding. But let’s give the spot a fair shot, with a bit of context and the usual descriptions.
We’d just come from watching Ireland’s astonishing last-minute victory over Hungary in their World Cup qualification campaign, and Doyle’s Corner was packed for the occasion, as were most other pubs in the immediate area. Yet when we got to McGowan’s – a spot we’d long meant to check out, but had never managed to, despite its proximity to many usual haunts – it was nearly empty.
And it’s an enormous pub; with its (very attractive) Christmas lights, it seems to take up a fair chunk of the neighbourhood, and inside, the huge u-shaped bar serves a ground floor with multiple spaces, as well as further areas upstairs, plus a covered outdoor space (though more on that in a moment).
Alas, there’s no interesting beer; just the usual Guinness and Heineken options. And while the pub is kept very tidy, with the wood highly polished and the seating in good order, there are a few oddities in the décor, at least, from our perspective. Framed Rolling Stone covers and old American license plates give the place a very 1980s feel (even if many of those magazine covers were from the 1990s); the neon sign outside proclaiming, ‘say hello to my little friend’ also adds to that impression. It is peculiar, and in some ways, not so different from being in an ‘Irish’ bar in the US midwest.
It’s once again worth stating, though, that it’s entirely possible that we’re not the target demographic, and that the real action begins after, say, 9 pm…by which point, we’re generally in pajamas. In this particular instance, we wanted to continue to celebrate the footy win, and so hopped back across the street to The Back Page, which was still full of fans in Ireland jerseys (and a reliable Sierra Nevada tap, among others).
There is no shortage of pubs in Phibsborough, though, and it’s safe to say that there are a few catering to nearly every taste and segment. This one may not be for us, but it mostly likely has a strong constituency of its own.
Where: 16-18 Phibsborough Road, Phibsborough, Dublin
Access from the city centre: Buses 4, 9, 46A, 140, 155, Luas Green Line, 25ish minute walk
Food: Pub grub
Sport: All of them, per the website
TVs: Many all around the pub
Music: Generic rock
Family-friendliness: Didn’t have that vibe
Pub-crawl-ability: High – The Back Page, Doyle’s Corner, The Boh, The Hut, The Bald Eagle and The Bernard Shaw are all within a short walk
Local sites of note: Dalymount Park, Mater Hospital, Blessington Street Basin, Mountjoy Prison, TUD Grangegorman, King’s Inns
Haunted: Not overtly
Other notes: A pub since at least the 1840s, and with a long family history; would be nice to see more focus on that
Socials: Instagram, Facebook
We’ve not always been fair to 
The first point in its favour – for us, anyway – is its support for local independent beer: there are multiple 
While it’s true that when in this general direction we are more often to be found at 
While 
And it is, perhaps, fitting that Neary’s is a pub that attracts this kind of lore; its beautifully-maintained interior hearkens back to the 1880s – well, at least in the main bar downstairs – while upstairs, it’s a slightly more updated restaurant feel, but still elegantly understated. The 
As regular readers know, we are always on the lookout for 
While the ‘since 1793’ date is a little shaky, given the current building’s construction 
So, ghosts aside, what is the pub like? Well…most definitely not creepy. If anything, it’s a bit too polished to feel at all like a liminal space. There are several very different sections of the pub with their own character, but none are especially dark or gloomy. The front is much more ‘pubby’ and the rear more of a restaurant or hotel bar vibe (the many large TV screens are part of what gives that impression), though it’s worth knowing that the back bar is where the sole local-craft-beer representative is; there’s a Rye River tap if you know where to look. Indeed, the food was very good – a step up from a lot of pub food, though the enormous portions are perhaps created more for tourists than locals. There’s also the usual Guinness – and Murphy’s – plus some Warsteiner.
There’s a covered outdoor space too, more 
The 1884 is so called after 
And like many pubs in the more suburban parts of Dublin, it’s absolutely enormous inside – indeed, somewhat barn-like. But it’s all very tidy, and there’s plenty of space to spread out. There are much-appreciated coat hooks under the bar, which really should be standard everywhere, but here we are. Only a few years ago, this pub was known as Grainger’s, and it had, well, a 
And while the beer selection is mostly the usual Guinness-and-Heineken-and-so-so-much-Rockshore (despite being listed as a stockist of Hope, brewed just a bit further north), there is also the lesser-spotted Kilkenny, which has been popping up here and there of late, and it’s a nice alternative. The real hidden gem of The 1884, though, is the enormous 
While it does have a theoretically reasonably interesting drinks lineup, like its fellow Bodytonic-managed bar, 
It is, of course, entirely possible that it’s simply aiming for a younger/cooler demographic, which is fair enough…though it does beg the question as to why there’s a mural of Peter Fonda on one side of the building…it’s not something that resonates with GenXers like us…are the younger Millennials into Easy Rider? We’ve been told it’s a ‘no’ from Gen Z: ‘…it’s no Taxi Driver.’
Cask ale, as we have often complained, is something of a rarity in Ireland. While there are a few more pubs with a regular cask offering up in Belfast, here in Dublin, it is simply not a regular feature in most pubs. Happily, though, a tipoff from a reader (cheers, Ciaran!) alerted us to a beer engine in regular use at Harty’s Bar. Naturally, we dropped everything to go investigate.
One reason this pub had not been on our radar is that, appearances notwithstanding, it’s a fairly new establishment (but also not; bear with us) – until about 18 months ago, it was the Dingle Whiskey Bar. But like its neighbour, 
While it doesn’t have the selection of beers next door in Tapped, with its enormous bar, for a small space, it has a good lineup of some of the more standard Porterhouse beers – the Plain Porter, Yippy IPA and Red – as well as Trouble’s Ambush. There’s also Guinness, of course, and Beamish. But as you know, we were here for the cask option: this week, it was 
We know that we tend to be biased toward pubs on the north side of the Liffey, but this week, we travel (relatively) far into south Dublin – all the way to Blackrock and . Once a quiet fishing village with a sideline in 
And while the 
There are some lovely little snugs and the pub also has a bit of a nautical bent – the seafront is right here, after all – but it’s very welcoming to all; the standard Guinness (and Beamish!) is on offer, and there is good support for independent offerings like Hope and Wicklow Wolf, as well as 
Have we found Dublin’s darkest pub?
All told, though, the vibe at Frank Ryan’s is extremely laid-back, and it can be a respite from the sun on a hot day; it’s not the sort of pub that’s going to be to everyone’s taste, but with so many in the broader 
The recent run of warm weather has led to prioritising pubs with lovely 
A recent BlueSky chat was a reminder that unlike the Neighbouring Island, we have few pubs that are a middle ground between Old Man Pubs, with a standard macro lineup (always Guinness, of course, plus Heineken or perhaps Carlsberg) and ‘hipster’ pubs with interesting craft beers…there’s no direct equivalent of a free house with a mix of standard macros, family brewery offerings on cask (sob) and local indies here in Ireland (with a very few exceptions – 
It’s also worth mentioning just how spacious Kodiak is – the main floor has two full bars, each with its own distinct feel (one darker, one brighter) and tap lineup, so for you beer nerds, check out both, and then there’s the large beer garden at the back. Then there’s even more upstairs (shuffleboard!) – hangout spaces that would be ideal for parties, and the well-designed toilets can be reached via lift or stairs. Indeed, simply by moving around different parts of the pub, you can switch up your experience of the place: start off with a chill solo pint in subdued lighting, then grab some sun