The Palace Today
Unspoilt and unmodernised, this small and unpretentious pub has a fame vastly out of proportion to its size. Established in 1823, it is one of Dublin's oldest pubs.
Step into the beautiful snug at the front in which many a historic meeting has taken place or the backroom with its high ceiling and ornate stained glass, where literary stock used to gather. Kavanagh, Flann O'Brien and Harry Kernoff were regulars, and thus the pub became internationally famous and one of Dublin's great literary pubs.
The Palace has long sporting connections, whether it is hurling, football, rugby, or horse racing. A great place to be on match days; the upstairs bar (open Wed - Sun) has a strong sporting feeling - resembled in its many photos, jerseys and drawings, including one of the famous sports journalist, Con Houlihan. The Tipperary hurling teams and their supporters have used the Palace as a kind of unofficial headquarters since the early years of the century. It is often referred to as 'The Tipperary pub'. This is no surprise when you consider it has been under the ownership of Tipperary people for over 100 years.
The French and Welsh Rugby Squads have always been fascinated by the unique ambience of The Palace and it continues to be the premier "watering hole" for aficionados of the game from those countries. Singing is not allowed in the Palace as it is a 'conversation pub' but exceptions are always made for a Welsh choir who visit for the Welsh versus Ireland international rugby games and lucky is the patron who stumbles across these amazing moments when notes more used to being heard in the Welsh Valley's drift out onto Dublin's Fleet Street and Westmoreland Street.
During the week the clientele is as diverse a mix as any; lecturers and students (Trinity is one minute's walk away), business people (there are plenty of offices in the area), tourists and regular patrons from all walks of life.
Opening hours:
Monday - Thursday: 10.30am - 11.30pm
Friday - Saturday: 10.30am - 12.30am
Sunday: 12.30pm - 11.00pm
Untainted and unspoilt by the passage of time - that's the Palace Bar.
Victorian Architecture
The Palace Bar is one of Dublin's best loved original Victorian pubs. Like all Victorian Pubs The Palace pulsates natural ambience and character. But if you wish to see it at its best, go along in early morning, preferably on a sunshiny day when shafts of light come filtering through the stained glass windows illuminating the old mahogany back bar and high vaulted ceiling. Ponder over the Victorian magic of this design; austere and simple but yet vibrant, quaint and enchanting. Note the high alter style Victorian back bar - typical of the era - with Romanesque arches and very clever use of mirrors. There is a hidden snug at the front of the bar, with an old telephone box feel, that can hold five people. Michael Collins was said to have held meetings there during the War of Independence.
Links
http://www.irelandwhiskeytrail.com
http://www.visitdublin.com/
http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/Index.aspx
http://www.dublinpubscene.com/
http://www.cooleywhiskey.com/
http://www.guinness.com/en-ie/arthursday/
http://www.tascq.ie
http://www.thereseahernephotography.com
http://www.lansdownerugby.com/
www.carrigbeers.com
Purchase Prints
To purchase The Palace Bar Dublin prints please click on the following link:
Purchase Palace Bar prints (http://thereseahernephotography.nextproof.com/galleries/palace-bar)
Latest News
The Palace Bar is delighted to announce that it has teamed up with Cooley Distillery to launch the pub's own whiskey brand recently, the first pub in Ireland to do so since the mid 70's.
Although originally founded in 1823 The Palace has been owned by the Aherne family since 1946 when whiskey was regularly bottled under the Palace Bar brand - a common enough practice among pubs throughout the '40s, '50s and '60s. However with the development of on-site distillery bottling this practice disappeared only to be resurrected by Willie Aherne of the Palace Bar this year.
The Palace hosts the largest selection of Irish whiskies for connoisseurs from far and wide and offers over 100 brands for devotees to savour.
Willie Aherne hand-picked the particular 9 Year-Old single cask single malt through a panel of tasters comprising faithful customers with a keen interest in whiskies. As a result, the single cask of single malt containing 44 crates of whiskey was chosen and Willie is now supplied with this via bottles of cask-strength (46 per cent) whiskey by Cooley.
The bottle's label depicts the exterior of The Palace and pays homage to its great literary past.