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 Brendan Behan connection (this is a pub, after all), but it was also a haunt of Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, Flann O’Brien, and J.P. Donleavy, before there was something of a writerly migration to Grogan’s in the 1970s.
Inside, the feel is ‘classic Irish pub’ in a more weathered, relaxed way than you find elsewhere in this part of town; the crowds are spilling out onto the footpath at Kehoe’s, but it’s it bit calmer at McDaid’s. There are some lovely tiles all around the pub, and the dark wood and red leather is cosy and lived-in. The usual Guinness is available and well-kept, and there’s an O’Hara’s tap for the indie beer fan – something that is far from guaranteed in this part of Dublin.
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 from the late 19th century. There are several ‘facts’ traded around about its past (‘former morgue!’ ‘Moravian chapel!’) which likely have the odd grains of truth here and there – the stained glass and frontage do have an ecclesiastical feel – but one does wonder where the 1779 date came from.
Still, we wouldn’t want to get in the way of a good story, especially in a pub with such a storied past; it’s often a blissfully-chill spot in an area that can be heaving with tourists and students. A good ghost story wouldn’t go amiss.
Where: 3 Harry St, Dublin, D02 NC42
Access from the city centre: In it
Food: Crisps
Sport: On when there’s a big game
TVs: Above the main entry
Music: Bit of an MOR playlist
Family-friendliness: Not really ideal for the littles
Pub-crawl-ability: High – Kehoe’s, Grogan’s, The Hairy Lemon, The Long Hall, Tapped, Bruxelles, Neary’s, Bar Rua, Davy Byrne’s…and many, many more
Local sites of note: Grafton Street, Gaiety Theatre, St Stephen’s Green, Trinity College, National Gallery, National Library of Ireland, National Museum of Archaeology, Leinster House, Little Museum of Dublin
Haunted: Seems odd there isn’t a literary ghost story
Other notes: Worryingly narrow stairs up to the toilets
Socials: None in general usage
