Staying on a holiday theme, we venture out toward the Phoenix Park this week to visit The Hole in the Wall – a pub that may be better known for its Christmas decorations nowadays, but also one which has a much better claim toward being one of the oldest pubs in Dublin than a certain establishment that trades on this point. Ahem.
But first, the surroundings: the pub gets its unusual name from its proximity to the park, where in times past, British soldiers from the former Marlborough Barracks – now McKee Barracks – could avail of its drink through a literal ‘hole in the wall,’ and thus avoid leaving the Phoenix Park. The pub was known as The Blackhorse Tavern from the 1650s, and the core of the original building does seem to tally well with this sort of date. However, its claim to fame as ‘Europe’s Longest Pub’ is more recent; that’s a result of local cottages being knocked together to add on more and more space as it curves around the edge of the park. There’s also a shipping container coffee stall outside, and plenty of seating for better weather.
Inside, it can be absolutely packed at this time of year, both with decorations (similar to The Ginger Man) and with young visitors to Santa’s Grotto. The many and various rooms within the pub are quite narrow, so it can be a challenge to walk through if there’s a crowd, but it can be done – there are many small nooks and crannies and little benches to be found with a bit of looking around. The beer is mostly the usual suspects from Guinness and Heineken, at least on our visit; the tap for The Holer Pale Ale (previously brewed by Rascals?) was off, and so the only independent beer option was a bottled McCaffrey Irish Pale Ale from Brewmaster/Dundalk Bay Brewing Company, which was…fine. If we’re being nitpicky, it could use a bit of a spruce-up in the beer regard, but the decoration and speed of service with the large crowd was remarkable.
But The Hole in the Wall is a pub for life, not just for Christmas – there are also running and cycling clubs based here, and it’s a handy spot if you happen to be on this side of the Phoenix Park (though you’d have Nancy Hands – its sister bar – on the other end). Given how few truly ‘old’ pubs there are in Dublin, we’d love to see them lean into this aspect even more, but in an evidence-based way…we suspect there are some truly fascinating stories to be told here.
Where: Blackhorse Ave, Phoenix Park, Castleknock (part of Phoenix Park), Dublin 7, D07 V663
Access from the city centre: Buses 37, 38, 38A, 39, 39A, 70
Food: Pub grub
Sport: Major sports shown
TVs: A fair few around the pub
Music: Mostly MOR hits
Family-friendliness: Not just for Santa’s Grotto, but year-round at the usual times
Pub-crawl-ability: Low – Cumiskey’s Bar is nearby, but that’s about all in the immediate area; it’s a long way to Nancy Hands and Ryan’s of Parkgate Street on the other side of the Phoenix Park
Local sites of note: Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo, Áras an Uachtaráin
Haunted: Could do with a good ghost story or two, given its age
Other notes: Dogs welcome
Socials: Instagram, Facebook
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