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
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