It’s properly Halloween season, and that means we need to take in a pub with a better ghostlore pedigree…even if its other, more, er, brazen claims don’t really hold up. And so, to The Brazen Head. We’ll get the negatives out of the way first, because there is a properly historic pub hidden under here, and a surprisingly decent beer selection for such a touristy spot, but we’ll lead with that point – it is never, ever, not packed with tourists. Now, this is no bad thing from a business perspective, especially with how difficult it is to keep a hospitality business going (not that it’s been going since ‘1189,’ but we’ll come back to that) – fair play to the management for finding what works to bring in a steady stream of paying visitors. And no shade to those visitors themselves; I’ve been one of them, though it probably says something that I certainly stopped in The Brazen Head more frequently as a tourist versus once we moved to Dublin. On the one hand, it’s simply not that close to home, so it would never be my local, but really, it’s that the crush of tourists mean that it’s most frequently crowded and, well, loud; not really a spot to linger over a book with a pint. The atmosphere can feel much more ‘theme park’ than ‘pub,’ which is a reasonable thing if you’re on holiday, but I find it a lot less diverting in the everyday.
And so to the second issue – is it ‘Ireland’s oldest pub,’ here ‘since 1189?’ LOL, no. While Liam has done an excellent job of unpacking its more likely history, I’ll summarize a few points, though his work on The Brazen Head (and, really, everything to do with Irish beer history) is very much recommended reading. First, while the pub does sprawl over a few buildings, there’s most likely nothing here older than the 18th century, and much that is more recent.
Are there parts of the pub that ‘feel’ a bit more like a coaching inn? Sure! Like a medieval tavern? Not remotely, we simply don’t have any in Dublin, and, as ever, we can at least partially blame the Wide Streets Commission. What is perhaps a more interesting question is ‘when did The Brazen Head begin marketing itself this way?’ Presumably before the ersatz crenelations at the front (to be fair, while they look riduclous from across the road, they do make for a nice covered outdoor space, and a non-smoking one to boot, though the smoke/vape ick can drift over from the nearby covered smoking porch) were added; I’ve found references along these lines as far back as the 1960s, whereas press mentions in the late 19th century stuck to a more believable ‘oldest established hotel in the city’ – even if the name has possibly attached itself to a number of different local businesses since, say, the 18th century, there’s at least a bit of a throughline.
And this is the bit about the fake history that makes it especially annoying – first, that the various claims are repeated absolutely everywhere without the slightest bit of interrogation, but more than that, it obscures the actually very interesting – and more validated – history of The Brazen Head. There is a genuine association with Robert Emmet, and there are a number of literary connections as well. Obviously, this being a pub in Dublin, Brendan Behan made an appearance, and there’s the requisite Ulysses mention; it would be lovely to hear more about these aspects of the pub’s history instead of an entirely imaginary ancient foundation. That’s not to say that there were not previous buildings on the site, nor, indeed, that Winetavern Street does not come by its name honestly as having a long history of domestic brewing and, later, inn- and tavern-like business; there’s a lot of quite interesting archaeology nearby, as this was very close to the Viking site at Wood Quay. But also given its proximity to the Liffey, it’s not 100% clear that there *was* solid ground here prior to the 13th century – it may have been under water in ‘1189.’ One presumes that there was a committee somewhere that decided ‘1189’ was a precise-yet-vague enough date to be applied wherever a deep lineage is required – see also the similar-vintage Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem on the Neighbouring Island (and, of course, listen to our Beer Ladies Podcast episode on Historic Building Mythbusting with Dr. James Wright).
Happily – at least for a ghostlore collector like me – there are ghost stories, too – Emmet and his executioner are both meant to appear at various spots in the pub, though as ever with this kind of story, it’s not clear how we identify said executioner; at least Robert Emmet has his death mask in various places, including a short walk away at Arthur’s, close to the spot of his execution.
It’s not as though Dublin is short of pubs (though we know it’s a hard time for all hospitality businesses), and so it’s not necessarily a terrible thing that we seem to have given one over entirely to tourism. That said, there are relatively few pubs here that do date back to the 18th century – I’m not really willing to go further back than that on the available evidence, but hey, more than happy to be surprised – and it would be a nice thing to see that history more celebrated. The Gravediggers does a great job of appealing to tourists and locals alike, though that’s almost certainly helped by its location away from the immediate city centre, but they also celebrate their pub’s history, recently hosting an event as part of the Dublin Festival of History. More of this, please!
But The Brazen Head does have one up on The Gravediggers for me from a beer selection point of view – they always have some reliable Rye River taps – and that is also something to be celebrated, especially if overseas visitors may stumble across a local, independently-produced beer. And it’s well-located to kick off a pub crawl into The Liberties…get your tourist TikTok done, then head down Thomas Street.
But in any event, I’m willing to wager The Cat & Cage is older…and less full of tourists! If only we could get some details about their ghost story…
Where: 20 Lower Bridge St, Usher’s Quay, Dublin, D08 WC64
Access from the city centre: Buses 13. 26, 27, 37, 70, 77A, 83, 83A, 123, 145, 151, C1, C2, C3
Food: Tourist pub grub
Sport: All the usual big events are shown
TVs: Inside and outside
Music: Generic playlist by day, live sessions by night
Family-friendliness: A fair few jet-lagged kids always seem to be sitting outside looking grumpy
Pub-crawl-ability: High – Tailors Hall, The Lord Edward, The Bull & Castle, The Beer Temple/The Oak are all more or less in one direction, with The Thomas House, Love Tempo, Dudley's, Swift, Arthur's, Guinness Open Gate Brewery and other Liberties spots in the other
Local sites of note: Christchurch Cathedral, Dublinia, St Audoen's Church, St Michan’s Church, Guinness Storehouse, Vicar Street
Haunted: FINALLY. Proper ghostlore; more, please!
Other notes: Temple Bar prices outside Temple Bar
Socials: Instagram, Facebook
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