It’s time for another pub re-brand, but this one does seem to be purely a name swap and a bit of a paint job, rather than anything more drastic. We speak, of course, of Thomas Read’s, latterly known as The Beer Temple. But while the name has changed, it’s not even an entirely new one: the pub was previously known as Thomas Read’s (also previously Thomas Reade and similar variations), so it’s really just a return to what might be classed as tradition, although the current building does not go quite as far back as the specific Thomas Read namechecked.
That said, while this site was largely rebuilt in the late 19th/early 20th century, Parliament Street and the surrounding area does have Georgian roots, with much of the area having been an output of the Wide Streets Commission. As we like to bang on about, it’s why there isn’t much of medieval Dublin visible above ground (though this is a good neighbourhood to go searching for little glimpses), but there are historical elements here. Yes, this spot is mentioned in Ulysses (though not as a pub), but it was also held by the Irish Citizen Army during the 1916 Rising (with considerable repair work required after).
The Read family did run their business from what is now House of Read just to the rear – while the date above the door there suggest a 1670 date (which does line up with the business founding), the location is a firmly 18th century building, mostly likely constructed in the 1760s as with much of the surrounding area. But for the much more complicated history of the Thomas Read name and its association with the pub trade, check out Every Pub in Dublin – happily for everyone involved, Cian has done the heavy lifting here, with the attendant Celtic Tiger-era twists and turns. We also recommend House of Read for tea and small snacks; they do excellent miniature cakes and pastries, among other more substantial offerings, and the interior there has been very well-restored to its 1760s appearance.
But back to the pub…
In truth, beyond some more sober colour choices and nods to both the Read family and a portrait of Michael Collins, little has changed – but this is no bad thing. The more recent trend around Dublin has been for pubs to remove their independent beer taps when they renovate, but happily, Thomas Read’s remains a Galway Bay Brewing pub, so there is the usual range of their beers and a few guests, although there are, perhaps, a few more Guinness and Heineken taps than there used to be. The Oak side has also had a bit of a glow-up, though again, the major changes there are cosmetic – adding some decoration to the many mirrors, for example – the are-they-from-the-Mauretania panels have been left alone. Staff suggested that the aim is to think of The Oak as more of a whiskey bar, although it’s easy enough to walk from one side to the other with your beverage of choice.
And it’s a change that makes sense from a tourism point of view: if we’re being honest, The Beer Temple was a name that sounded a little try-hard and bro-y (even if the pub was not – indeed, it’s always been one of the most family-friendly in town), whereas Thomas Read’s is very much more ‘Irish pub’ – and in this part of town, with so many tourist attractions, it makes sense not to make tour groups or travellers think that your business only caters to a certain brand of drinker. So it’s not quite a more ‘grown-up’ name, but it is a nice nod to the area’s history.
And given where Thomas Read’s is, right at the entrance to Temple Bar, it’s by no means cheap, but there is one nice promotion that they look to continue to run – on Mondays and Tuesdays, Galway Bay Brewing pints are only €6.50. Around these parts, that’s a great deal.
Where: Thomas Read’s, 1-3 Parliament St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 AN28
Access from the city centre: You are in it – nearly everything touristy is within a 5-10 minute walk
Food: Usual Galway Bay menu; breakfast on weekends
Sport: Not constant, but now there are bigger games on
TVs: See above: more for major rugby, football, etc
Music: Playlist now depends on the day; occasional live acts
Family-friendliness: Still very welcoming to all ages at the usual times, with food that appeases fussy eaters; kids’ menu available
Pub-crawl-ability: High – Porterhouse, all the Temple Bar tourist traps, The Lord Edward, The Bull & Castle, The Brazen Head, or wander into The Liberties for spots like Dudley’s, Swift, Lucky’s and more…
Local sites of note: Olympia Theatre, Dublin Castle, Dublin City Hall, Chester Beatty Library, Christchurch Cathedral, Dublinia
Haunted: Still no obvious ghosts
Other notes: Basement toilets still not meaningfully renovated or accessible
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 
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 
It’s time for another one of our rare trips into Dublin city centre proper with a visit to McDaid’s, a pub with a fine literary heritage. Granted, there are many, many pubs here with similar claims to fame, but most do come by it quite honestly. There’s the requisite 
It would be interesting to do a deeper dive into the history of the building and previous pubs trading on this site…the ‘est 1779’ above the door has little to do with the current incarnation of the pub, which is a mid-20th century affair, and the building that houses it is 
This week, it’s another relatively rare visit into the more touristy part of town as we visit 
Kennedy’s is another pub I’ve walked past many times without entering, but I finally had a bit of free time in the area this week, so stopped in for a sneaky daytime glass after visiting the National Gallery. While not nearly as extensive a list of craft beer taps as nearby 
There’s a lovely tiled bar in the basement for live music and events, and this space as well as the terra cotta decoration on the pub’s exterior add unique touches, while the rest of the interior feels a bit more ‘standard Irish pub.’ All told, it’s probably more of a destination for those on literary walking tours than anything else, but it’s nice to find a spot in tourist-land with a few craft beers; it’s not necessarily a given in Dublin.
We didn’t have time to get to a ‘new’ pub this week for a conventional entry, but given the (strange) glorious sunny weather, we’ll do a quick round-up of the nicest 
And so, with definitions out of the way, here are some of our favourite proper Dublin 
Then, to the other side of the Liffey: 
Next, on to