The owner describes this pub as a “Dublin Landmark Reimagined” … “Welcome to The Lucky Duck, an elegant neighbourhood pub and cocktail bar where we are making the old new again.”
The building has been vacant for at least twenty years and while I went to Kevin Street College, nearby, I cannot remember the name that it operated under but according to some of my fellow students it sold the cheapest pint in Dublin (I never knew if that was a recommendation or a warning).
I am not an expert when it comes to Dublin Pubs but to the best of my knowledge The Lucky Duck was originally to be called The Dutch Billy, after an architectural style of building that was once common in Dublin but when it was realised that the name might be considered to be a reference to William of Orange that idea was dropped.
Note: Dublin’s Dutch Billys [Gable fronted houses] were reputedly named after William of Orange, and their arrival in Dublin is generally attributed to an influx of French Huguenots after 1685 and to Dutch and Flemish Protestants fleeing persecution after 1690.
THE BACK PAGE PUB ON PHIBSBOROUGH ROAD – THIS FELLA RONALDO IS A COD
A female friend of mine, from Vietnam. once asked me what was a cod and when I told her that it was a fish she became very upset but did not explain why. A few weeks I saw the graffiti on the wall of the Back Page pub on Phibsborough Road which was across the road from where my friend lived. Knowing that she was a fan of Ronaldo I then understood why she had been upset.
According to Eamon Dunphy: “Ronaldo is a disgrace to the game. His petulance, temperament, throwing himself on the ground. It was a disgrace to professional football. This fella Ronaldo is a cod.”
In case you don’t know – Éamon Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella Maris. Since retiring from the sport, he has become recognisable to Irish television audiences as a football analyst during coverage of the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and international football on RTÉ.
CLARKES PHIBSBOROUGH HOUSE PUB AT THE CORNER OF MONCK PLACE AND PHIBSBOROUGH ROAD
As I am more inclined to visit restaurants rather than pubs I have never been inside this pub even though it happens to be about a ten minute walk from my home.
The name “Monck Place” is what really caught me attention.
The original Irish language name, Glas Mochonóg, means Monck’s Green, which evolved to the variants Manogue and Minogue, and anglicised as Monck. This family held the local demesne at Grangegorman following inter-marriage with the Stanley family, becoming Stanley Monck. The Green served as play field and parade ground was bisected by the main north road which ran from the foot of the Old Bridge of Dublin. Lying low between the stepping stone crossing of the Bradogue river (which now flows underground) ia a common called the Glasminogue. Between the Broadstone and the village of Baile Phib at Monck Place, it often flooded and turned into a quagmire. This area was part of the Grangegorman estate.
The Broadstone area underwent significant urban development in the early nineteenth century in order to fulfill the commercial and residential needs of the Royal Canal Company headquarters and Harbour Terminus operation. The later onset of John S. Mulvaney’s Midland Great Western Railway and the railway engineering works brought further development to North Circular Road intersection and east to Blessington Street. The natural expansion of the city saw the development move north with residential housing reaching Phibsborough, and Glasnevin, and the Phoenix Park to the northwest.
St. Peter’s Catholic Church and schools date from 1862. The construction of the church was controversial, resulting in a long and costly lawsuit. This dispute between the architect and builder ended in the courts and required the intervention of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. All Saints Church of Ireland Parish Church, Phibsborough Road, was completed in 1904. The renowned Tractarian, Dr Maturin, was rector for many years, establishing a High Church tradition of worship. The beautiful interior has been restored in recent years, having suffered fire damage in 1968.
I must that I thought that the name of this pub was McHughes rather than M. Hughes
Sadly, in June 2019 Michael Hughes, the owner of M Hughes Pub on Chancery Street, died at the age of 75.
Hughes pub, located near the Four Courts and the Markets has always been what is known as an “early house” as it was licensed to open for business from seven in the morning to facilitate workers at the nearby markets.
This is located on Marlborough Street near the Pro-Cathedral.
The city of Dublin possesses two cathedrals, but unusually, both belong to one church, the minority Church of Ireland, which had been the Established Church in Ireland until 1871. In contrast, the majority religion in Ireland, Roman Catholicism, has no cathedral in the Republic of Ireland’s capital city and has not had one since the Protestant Reformation. As the official church, the Church of Ireland took control of most church property, including the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (generally known as Christchurch) and St Patrick’s Cathedral.
These two churches had long shared the role of cathedral of Dublin, controversially at first, then under an agreement of 1300, Pacis Compositio, which gave Christchurch formal precedence, including the right to enthrone the Archbishop and to hold his cross, mitre and ring after death, but with deceased Archbishops of Dublin to be buried alternately in each of the two cathedrals, unless they personally willed otherwise, and the two cathedrals to act as one, and “shared equally in their freedoms”.
Even though Christchurch has been in possession of the Church of Ireland for nearly five hundred years, it is still viewed by the Roman Catholic Church as the primary official Dublin cathedral, since it was so designated by the pope at the request of the then Archbishop of Dublin, St Laurence O’Toole in the 12th century. Unless the pope either formally revokes Christchurch’s designation or grants cathedral status to another church, the main Roman Catholic church in Dublin will continue to be designated a “pro-cathedral” (meaning in effect acting cathedral), a title officially given to St Mary’s Church in 1886, though it used that title unofficially since the 1820s.
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