Each month Moira Muldoon walks into a bar and writes about it. Here Muldoon paints a picture of The Dubliner.
Some Irish bars are a bit twee. The brass fixtures and paper shamrocks feel Disney-lightweight, as if constructed by pixies and Riverdancers rather than regular people. It’s a shame, really, because a good Irish bar should be a place for regulars, a place to hang out.
Which is why I like The Dubliner. The Dubliner’s a little place, wider than it is long. The polished wooden bar top is scored and marked through use, and the wooden stools have comfy places to rest your feet. It’s dark and there’s not much brass, but there are darts and Guinness posters framed and hung. The whiskey list (including Scotch) is good and long, and food is of the sandwich and cheese plate variety. The bar emanates an easy homeyness that makes you think good stories have been told there and good stories have begun there.
The Dubliner sits on Greenville Avenue and hosts bikers (Sundays are for bringing your scooter or motorcycle), as well as see-and-be-seeners settling in for a low-key evening. Peter Kenny, the Dubliner who owns the Dubliner, is something of a fixture on Lower Greenville and in Uptown; he worked at the original Knox Street Pub and also owns the Capitol Pub and The Gin Mill, both on Henderson.
