Last week, we asked whether The Bloody Stream can officially be considered a railway pub. Answer: yes! This week, we are visiting a pub that will eventually (in theory) be disappearing to make way for the proposed MetroLink: Hedigan’s The Brian Boru. But all things planning- and/or transit-related in Dublin take much, much longer than they do in most other places, so you likely have a goodly amount of time to visit the pub in advance.
It’s hard to miss it if you’re walking by – the well-kept mural of its namesake king on horseback takes up most of one wall, and while his horse and armour may be a bit more High Victorian Medieval Fantasy than 11th century, well…you probably also don’t believe that Brian Boru ‘camped on this spot‘ before the Battle of Clontarf…and that’s perfectly acceptable. But historical facts need not interfere with the enjoyment of a pleasant bit of neighbourhood art, so we’ll move swiftly inside. There are multiple snugs and seating areas, two bars and even a bright conservatory, so you can get the full dark-wood ‘Irish Pub’ experience or even catch some occasional sun in the spacious beer garden to the rear of the pub. Beer-wise, Little Fawn from The White Hag is the only independent offering, but there’s also Beamish as well as Guinness, plus the useful Guinness 0.0 and Heineken 0.0 options.
The pub has been here since the 1850s, and in the Hedigan family since 1904, and you can’t miss their name in neon, either. Of course, like so many pubs along this route, it’s name-checked in Ulysses, and has a useful write-up on the NBHS website, where it’s noted that its own house whiskey blend was particularly fine, and that ‘…traditionally held to be the only pub in Ireland that did not run out of whiskey during the Second World War.’ So, there’s a fair amount of history to the place – well over 200 years, all told, and there was likely an earlier pub (or pub-like) business on the spot, too. And yet, it will all have to go for the MetroLink (at some point in the future)…so what does a transit-loving pub nerd do with that information?
Well, there have been proposals to name the future station here for the pub, possibly including some of the pub’s architectural details. And while the MetroLink wouldn’t be anything on the scale of the Tube, there’s plenty of precedent for naming stations after both extant and long-vanished pubs over on the Neighbouring Island. And it’s not as though this part of Dublin, where Phibsborough turns into Glasnevin, is short of pubs – there are many excellent ones in the area. All the same, it’s a bit of a shame there’s not a good way to incorporate the pub more fully into the eventual station, but we also desperately need real transit to the airport (among other places).
So, I suppose the message is to enjoy this pub while you can…though given how slowly the MetroLink project has gone thus far, you may have a few decades to stop by.
Where: 5 Prospect Rd, Glasnevin, Dublin, D09 PP93
Access from the city centre: Buses 9, 40, 46A, 83, 140; Luas Green Line; 30ish minute walk
Food: Lunch, dinner & kids’ menus
Sport: Football, GAA, rugby, etc…
TVs: Throughout the pub
Music: Indie faves, but also trad sessions and other live gigs
Family-friendliness: Very approachable menu and seating options
Pub-crawl-ability: High – The Bald Eagle, Doyle's Corner, The Boh, The Hut and The Back Page in one direction, with The Botanic, The Gravediggers and The Tolka House in the other…
Local sites of note: Royal Canal, Glasnevin Cemetery, National Botanic Garden, Dalymount Park
Haunted: While not as close to the cemetery as The Gravediggers, surely it’s near enough for someone to craft a good ghost story
Other notes: Can get quite crowded before Bohs games; also pet-friendly
Socials: Instagram, Facebook
1 thought on “Weirdo Guide to Dublin Pubs: Hedigan’s The Brian Boru”