Dublin Dossier

Pat Keenan on happenings in and around the capital

Good, bad or unredeemable, Dublin can’t live without its pubs..

We appear to be returning to whatever our normal was, at least that’s what it seems as I write this towards the end of June.

Our routines have been affected in many ways, we have coped in differing ways and will no doubt return in different ways. Overall it has been strange experience, living in a Dublin without pubs, its very soul, good, bad or unredeemable. Will they all survive and what changes might happen; will we embrace more outdoor sidewalk drinking or continue to drink at home.

Our pubs have changed over time, mostly for the good. Was a time when pubs were largely 'men only' places; granted in a few, a woman could quietly sip a glass in the snug and perhaps, in so doing, might also risk her reputation. A pub would only serve women a drink in a glass - never a pint. And more than likely there would be no female toilet facilities. I remember a time when lady friends, if needs be, would have to leave Gaffney's on Fairview Strand and walk to a neighbouring pub. Liam Collins writing in The Irish Independent under the wonderfully inventive heading 'Drinker, Taylor, soldiers, spy' told of Richard Burton, during the filming of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'(1965) in the Liberties, popping into The White Horse on the corner of George’s Quay and Corn Exchange Place for a 'quick one'. When his wife Elizabeth Taylor tried to join him she was refused entry. The owner told her it was a 'men only' pub. On another occasion, Liam recalled, Liz was on set as Richard was filming near Fairview and, as Liam put it, became 'short-taken'. They took her to Cusack's pub on North Strand, which in those days had no female toilet. Showing true gentlemanliness, locals stoutly stood guard while she used the mens.

Before 1962 a pub might be called upon to act as a morgue. I grew up in Baldoyle where Duff's pub on College St. (no longer there) was often used for this purpose. The Coroners Act of 1846 stipulated that dead bodies found on a public road or washed up on the shores should to be brought to the nearest tavern until further arrangements were made. Thankfully this practise ended in 1962.

While on the subject of the departed, Billy Brooks Carr, owner of 'Mama Hattie's Irish Hamburgers' in Houston,Texas died in 2011. He so loved the pint he remembered in Mulligan’s pub in Poolbeg Street, he requested that some of his ashes be deposited there. Those ashes are still in the pub's grandfather clock and some of his family return in pilgrimage every year. Some of his ashes were also scattered near hole fourteen at Clear Creek golf course in Houston, site of a hole-inone remembered.

(Further reading: Mulligan's Grand Old Pub of Poolbeg Street' by Declan Dunne, Mercier Press)

Davy Byrnes on Duke Street was able to open outdoors for Bloomsday this year. Joyceans gathered, guzzled down pints, gobbled dozens of Gorgonzola sandwiches and many sups of Burgundy, all celebrating that original day, immortalised in Ulysses

The Brazen Head, still with us at 20 Lower Bridge St, Usher's Quay, claims be the oldest pub in Ireland - dating from 1198

Oldest pub in Dublin

Quay claims be the oldest pub in Ireland - dating from 1198 which would roughly coincide with the arrival of the Normans. They and their anglo allies were invited here by the deposed King of Leinster Dermot MacMurrough, to help him win back his kingdom. The Normans arrived

Laurence Harvey, in a break from shooting Of Human Bondag (1964) in Ardmore, took Kim Novak to Bartley Dunne’s in an attempt to soften their famously frosty relationship - it didn't work.

Bartley Dunne’s which claimed to be Dublin’s first ‘gay-friendly’ bar

as you would expect armed to the teeth but they also brought their wine merchants, vintners and large stocks of wine. Archaeologists excavating the controversial Wood Quay site found large quantities of pewter tavern tokens. All of which explain how Winetavern Street is so called - the The Brazen Head is just a few minutes walk away. We know for sure it is the oldest pub in Dublin because there's a tiny piece of early graffiti scratched on a window pane: ‘John Langan halted here 7th August 1726’ Cheers John.

It wasn't exactly LBGT but some old pubs managed to combine an eclectic cosmopolitan way of thinking, open-minded and doors open to all. 'Gay' was a word not used in those days, homosexuality was illegal and punishable by jail. Bartley Dunnes on Stephen’s Street Lower (now replaced by Break for the Border) was such a place. But it was partly gay, it was also place where a young man could take girl for an intimate night out in one of its dimly lit nooks and alcoves. Of course Richard Burton took Elizabeth Taylor here and Laurence Harvey, in a break from shooting Of Human Bondage (1964) in Ardmore, took Kim Novak here in an attempt to soften their famously frosty relationship - it didn't work.

Davy Byrnes on Duke Street was able to open outdoors for Bloomsday this year. Joyceans gathered, guzzled down pints, gobbled dozens of Gorgonzola sandwiches and many sups of Burgundy, all celebrating that original day, immortalised in Ulysses when Davy served Leopold Bloom and Nosey Flynn. Joyce was no stranger here, it also gets a mention in Dubliners.

Sacrilegiously abridged: ‘Davy Byrne came forward from the hindbar in tuckstitched shirt-sleeves, cleaning his lips with two wipes of his napkin..And here’s himself and pepper on him, Nosey Flynn said. ‘Can you give us a good one for the Gold Cup?’ Davy Byrne answered. I never put anything on a horse....Mr Bloom ate his stripes of sandwich, fresh clean bread, with relish of disgust, pungent mustard, the feety savour of green cheese. Sips of his wine soothed his palate......Nice quiet bar. Nice piece of wood in that counter.’

No pubs in this Dublin..

We know from James Joyce how difficult it is to walk across Dublin without passing a pub. Well back in 1992 I visited a Dublin with no pubs, a foretaste of things to come. Surprisingly this Dublin even gets a mention on the opening page of Joyces's Finnegan's Wake: ‘By the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse to Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin’ - I know, the distorted wording of Finnegan's Wake is no easy read. I found a Dublin divided by a river, not north/south by the Liffey - this one west/east by the Oconee.

A Dublin where you would be hard pressed to walk across without passing a church, there was one on every corner, my guide pointed out that there was even a Roman Catholic church! You would also be hard pressed to find an Irish name, even in the cemetery. While there I was introduced to Robert J Walker, Mayor of the City of Dublin, Laurens County, Georgia, USA. I presented him with a copy of the book Memories, a Pictorial Celebration for Dublin's Millennium, published here by John Coughlan and Smurfit Publications. Mayor Bob even invited me to settle there and become their token Irishman.

Dublin Dossier Colourful history of The Morrison Hotel

Just beside the Ha'penny Bridge, the well established Morrison Hotel on Ormond Quay was always been a favourite of mine. Splashed as one of Dublin's upscale 'designer hotels'- this one was designed by The John Rocha. During the financial crisis in Irish banking, NAMA sold it to Russian billionaire investor Yelena (Elena) Baturina rated by Forbes as Russia's richest woman. How did Elena, a factory worker in her early 20s, amass a fortune worth more than €2 Billion in her late 40s.

There were always allegations her Inteko construction company may have benefited from her husband who just happened to be Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow's city major; the man widely credited in transforming a desolate Moscow following the collapse of the Soviet Union into a thriving city of shopping malls, towering office blocks and bustling traffic filled highways. In 2010 husband Yuri was dismissed as mayor, over 'political differences', by the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, a long time colleague of President Vladimir Putin. Shortly after his dismissal, Elena sold her construction company; their two teenage daughters were sent to live in London, claiming they were no longer safe in Russia. Yuri died aged 83 in 2019 following heart surgery in Munich. In early 2012 Elena spotted a NAMA bargain and bought the Morrison Hotel, 'they' say for between €20 to €25 million. Earlier this year she sold it to Zetland Capital, a London-based private equity firm for an undisclosed sum, but 'they' say somewhere around €65 million". Originally she stood to get an estimated €80 million, unfortunately that was before the Covid pandemic hit the market. A second major Dublin hotel sale was announced this year. The Moxy Dublin City hotel, Sackville Place just off O’Connell Street, sold by the Spitzer’s Midwest Holding group for €35 million to the MHL Hotel Collection. Other MHL Dublin hotels include: The Westin on College Green, The Intercontinental in Ballsbridge and The Morgan in Fleet St, Temple Bar.

Just beside the Ha'penny Bridge, the well established Morrison Hotel on Ormond Quay was always been a favourite of mine.

Recalling Dublin’s Indian restaurants

The Taj Mahal in Lincoln Place, opposite the Dental Hospital and the back gate of Trinity College The first Indian restaurant in Dublin was opened in 1908, the India Restaurant and Tea Rooms, 20 Upper Sackville St., now O'Connell St. It closed a few months later, but for the history, it predates the first Indian restaurant in London by three years.

Our love of curries may date back to the many Irish serving in India with the British Raj army. Sadly back to the time of events we might rather forget - the 1919 Amritsar massacre in Punjab when Sir Michael O’Dwyer, Irish Catholic and self proclaimed Irish nationalist, was the Empire's lieutenant-governor of Punjab. Under his command 300 to 1,500 peaceful demonstrators died - the disparity of numbers depend on British and Indian accounts. indigenous regions within India like Kashmir in the mountainous north.

There was the Indian Restaurant which opened at 50 Lower Baggot Street in 1942 and I vaguely recall The Golden Orient at 27 Lower Leeson Street. Most remembered is the Taj Mahal (1966-1996) on at the corner of Lincoln Place and Clare Street. Everyone of a certain age remembers when the late lamented Larry Gogan had his regular ‘Just a minute’ quiz on RTE Radio and asked ‘Where’s the Taj Mahal?’ The Dublin accented listener replied ‘opposite the Dental Hospital.’

Sadly that Taj is no longer there but the other one is still standing somewhere in India! The Taj curries were graded from mild up to very hot and beyond, the asbestos hot one listed on the menu was the 'Micheál Ó Doibhilin'. I recall Micheál was a regular and worked nearby at the Doherty Advertising Agency.

Four copies of Wildflowers of Ireland to be won!

In association with the publisher Gill Books, Senior Times is offering four copies of Zoe Devlin’s Wildflowers of Ireland new edition in this issue’s crossword competition. Discover the fascinating world of Ireland’s diverse and astonishing collection of native wildflowers. This new edition reflects the many changes to our botanical knowledge since The Wildflowers of Ireland was first published in 2014. There’s updated information on the distribution of native wildflowers, along with more than 90 additional species, all beautifully photographed by the author.

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History Crossword Number 112 by Zoë DevlinCrossword

ACROSS

1 Digits found in tomatoes and potatoes (4) 3 Small smooth stone (6) 7 Thicker than mist (3) 9 Tatty - showing signs of wear and tear (6) 12 Essayist Charles ___ or young sheep (4) 17 Pacify or appease (7) 18 Curl or whorl of hair (7) 19 Practices self denial or is he a banister? (9) 20 Swedish chemist who created prizes (5) 21 Very fast and lively tempo (6) 22 Be wary of being lopsided! (4) 23 Regarding poetry or drive backwards (7) 27 Mountain peak that Noah’s ark rested on (6) 28 Officer of church in charge of sacred objects (6) 29 Large flightless bird (3) 30 Peter Pan’s large dog (4) 36 Long and arduous trip (4) 37 Ferry port in northern France (6) 40 Writer of ‘Wind in the Willows’, Kenneth ___ (7) 41 A mature athlete who does not play for pay (7) 43 Very wet (6) 45 U.S. Vice President, ___ Harris (6) 46 Dens of animals, off the rails! (5) 47 Lightweight cords or violins? (7) 49 12th sign of the zodiac - for those loving spices? (6) 50 Filmmaker/actor, Orson ___ (6) 51 Unlimited expanse, outer or blank (5) 53 Practitioner who look down in the mouth! (7) 55 Low wall around a roof or balcony (7) 58 Tear up (5) 61 Ocean floor (6) 63 St Laurence or Peter ___? (1'5) 65 Wrench - don’t throw it in the works! (7) 66 Dublin suburb or the vanished Lord ___ (5) 67 Current Housing Minister, Darragh ___ (1'5) 68 Politician/writer Conor ___ O’Brien (6) 71 US Dancer/actor Fred ___ (7) 72 See 60 Down 73 Did Martin hurtle through the Reformation? (6) 74 Comply or take orders (4) 77 Monetary unit, found in innocent Vincent? (4) 79 Old cowboy, always on Trigger, ___ Rogers (3) 80 Light humorous drama (6) 83 Austrian composer, Gustav ___ (6) 88 Month of fasting in Islamic faith (7) 89 Writer ___Austen or novel ‘___ Eyre’ (4) 90 Oireachtas Eireann’s upper house (6) 91 Natural state of resting overnight (5) 96 Can an acid eater wipe out or annihilate? (9) 97 Breed of dog, not one of the alpines! (7) 98 Robert ___ Childers, writer of ‘The Riddle of the Sands’ (7) 99 Stately aquatic white bird (4) 100 Large stately mansion (6) 101 Children’s plaything (3) 102 Brutal Russian leader, Joseph ___ (6) 103 US creator of Mickey Mouse, ___ Disney (4) DOWN

1 Misprint (4) 2 Work out in detail, refine or complicate (9) 4 Paradise, promised land (4) 5 Man-made receptacle for bees (7) 6 First female to fly solo across Atlantic Amelia, ___ (7) 7 Danced with Nureyev, Margot ___ (7) 8 City of tribes or Belfast-born flautist? (6) 9 Sixth planet from the sun (6) 10 Sweater traditionally worn by Irish fishermen (4) 11 Smooth-haired hound with long ears & short-legs (6) 13 Blackout or memory loss (7) 14 Can I rob this ballpoint pen? (4) 15 Ma cares for such photographic equipment (7) 16 Dublin hospital, ___ Misericordiae (5) 24 Australian airline (6) 25 Connolly Station, formerly known as ___ Street Station (6) 26 Actor Richard or 45 Across ___ (6) 31 ‘Romeo & Juliet’s fairy, Queen ___ (3) 32 Many planes fly to this Italian port (6) 33 Pilgrimage site in Portugal (6) 34 Stopped temporarily (6) 35 Staid and dignified married woman (6) 38 Saltzburg-born composer, Wolfgang ___ Mozart (7) 39 Gastropod, it nails the prize for going slowly (5) 40 Small biting flies with tangs for human flesh! (5) 42 Famous Brazilian footballer (4) 44 Country of 38 Down’s birth (7) 48 Capital of Kenya (7) 49 Young canine (3) 52 Severest peak in Himalayas? (7) 54 Starting place for each hole on golf course (3) 56 Wooden writing implement (6) 57 Small tower extending above a building (6) 59 Tangy salad plant or firework? (6) 60 & 72 Across RTE’s ‘Eco Eye’ environmentalist (6,7) 61 Dark heavy-bodied ale (5) 62 Month of showers and primroses (5) 64 Small pie with fruit filling (4) 65 Hunt, seek or look for (6) 66 Major port standing on the Tagus River (6) 69 Grey donkey in ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ (6) 70 A little jewel for Meg (3) 75 Female dancer in a liberal lab? (9) 76 Heavy material used to stabilise a ship (7) 78 Waterfall in US and Canada (7) 80 He was Sundance’s partner, Butch ___ (7) 81 Highly contagious disease with red spots (7) 82 Bram Stoker’s vampire (7) 84 US pianist/bandleader,/composer ‘Count’ ___ (5) 85 World’s largest hot desert (6) 86 Fictional Rough Collie dog (6) 87 One who rents land or a building (6) 92 Little green vegetables (4) 93 Yarn woven across the warp (4) 94 Food shop found in dandelions and deliveries! (4) 95 Joke or act in a funny way (4)

Poetry

Seven poems by Noel King

Rejuvenate

Somewhere in you a cell decided to give up, die. That was unusual for you Mr Positive, Mr Well Balanced, Mr A Confident, Mr Perfect Health. It nudged on a neighbour to die too and another and another, until a friendly one figured, uh-oh, we’d better let himself know, out this ‘carry on’.

A message to the brain sent down a medical team: opened a little crack, lit a little break, met a little, took a little, then stopped;

and you stopped running; buying time to get back over your hill, to live thank God, to live.

Beacons

Tourists click the mist that sheath the islands rejuvenating their beauty

Now, Honey, them ’re the Skelligs only you can’t see ‘em in the fog. Bu’ here’s the postcarde, THAT’s where we’re standing.

What Matters

We’ll go for a cast, he said, and winked at his son, the other eye on the wife; whether she’d object, want him to carpenter the place or an odd-job something or other.

Catching fish or not was unimportant. There was little talking; being together, a father and a son ’s what mattered.

Night Fishing

Four of us went, my uncle and his three nephews, none of us brothers.

We’d leave home in time to have the rods ready at the point that dusk turns to dark. We opened and closed several gates on a long drive/climb up Glenntenassig mountain.

The midges ‘ate us’ as we fished. Unsure of my footing I often slipped, but never into the lake itself. I didn’t enjoy it that much. You two older cousins picked on me a lot but mother made me go – having only younger sisters, fishing with the lads would make a man of me.

The Farewell Party

Pour me a glass of port, loan me a five euro note, join me in a final tipple. In the morning I leave.

If you ever come across, do visit, with you with me will help me remember home. In the afternoon I’ll be flying.

You must send me the bones of all the news. I must keep up, keep the option open for a return. In the evening I’ll arrive.

Earlobe

The breeze that came after she’d shut the door after a tear came into me after the first breath that upset the tears just brushed my earlobe.

The Girl plays Tennis with her Daddy

He got me better rackets each birthday, promised that one of these years we would leave Mammy at home and he would take me to Wimbledon, just Daddy and me.

We watched it together on the telly while Mammy complained I needed sunshine not cooping up. We played furiously then as did all the country it seemed; until July, 2nd 1978, the sun in my eyes, wet armpits in my short white costume, Daddy clasping his right arm with his left, his racket falling in slow motion to the ground; screams, Mammy, the doctor, ambulance. I never again took up the racket.

If you are interested in submitting one or more poems to Senior Times, email them to john@slp.ie

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