There is an often repeated story of the Irishman who tells directions by pubs and not street names or local landmarks.
It is no secret to the world that the Irish have a thing about drink. This is not the time to go over that rollercoaster of a topic. What I would like to talk about now is how the Pub is an important part of everyday life and socialisation for the people of Ireland. How public houses, clubs and other gathering spaces form important places of focus that many relate to.
To do this I will trawl and crawl through what memory I have of pubs frequented over the years, and how they related to my activities and social positions at the time. We all have those pubs/clubs/venues we know the prices in, the atmosphere/ambience, the crowd/ talent/ clientele, and the quality of the pints or what's on offer, if there's a cover charge, and so on and so forth. Through this exercise I hope to map and explore the relationships the pubs chosen have afforded over time and how it has evolved, as the venues also have.
The difference between my first time in college, 2006-09, the recessionary years, and now will become apparent as will the changing landscape of drink culture over the past 8-9 years.
First is 2006-2009 when I was in Trinity College Studying General Nursing.
It is no secret to the world that the Irish have a thing about drink. This is not the time to go over that rollercoaster of a topic. What I would like to talk about now is how the Pub is an important part of everyday life and socialisation for the people of Ireland. How public houses, clubs and other gathering spaces form important places of focus that many relate to.
To do this I will trawl and crawl through what memory I have of pubs frequented over the years, and how they related to my activities and social positions at the time. We all have those pubs/clubs/venues we know the prices in, the atmosphere/ambience, the crowd/ talent/ clientele, and the quality of the pints or what's on offer, if there's a cover charge, and so on and so forth. Through this exercise I hope to map and explore the relationships the pubs chosen have afforded over time and how it has evolved, as the venues also have.
The difference between my first time in college, 2006-09, the recessionary years, and now will become apparent as will the changing landscape of drink culture over the past 8-9 years.
First is 2006-2009 when I was in Trinity College Studying General Nursing.
As is evident from the spread, the pubs are mostly focused on Temple Bar / D'Olier Street area.
My campus was mostly D'Olier Street, and latter included a lot more time on the main Trinity campus in my Repeat year.
In 2010 I was working in a Pub in Drogheda, near where I live, for several months. The nights out I had around this time looked like this.
The bar I worked in has changed it's name several times over the years. From The Crescent bar, to Starbar, to Planet bar, to now Galaxy. At the it was called The Star and Crescent a sort of amalgam of it's multi-faceted history as several venues and more than one entrance.
The bar in the middle of the map was called Shooters at the time. It has since burnt down gutting the building. It remains derelict on Narrow West Street, a street devastated by the recession and the delays in the repaving/ partial pedestrianisation of West Street.
From 2010-12 my finances and employment were changeable, but when I could I would mostly socialise in Dublin. The pattern of those days looked like this.
Some of the same central bars are still involved. Also noticeable is visiting gay bars with friends for the first time, and a few of these bars would appear again and again in later years, as would their importance. The George (Georges street) and Pantibar (Capel Street) being renowned.
Notably on Burgh quay just off O'Connell Bridge was Messer Maguires. It changed hands via NAMA during the recession and became J.B Sweetmans, and still features as a regular spot to this day.
Between 2012-13 I was returning to education and took several small courses.
The pattern mostly clusters around many of the same venues in the city centre, with some bars dropping out of favour over time, whilst others were discovered.
An outlier is the Four Roads in Crumlin as this was the local bar to Pearse College while I attended.
The outlier in the Docklands was attending concerts at this time in the "O2" as it was then called in "The Point Village". It is now called the 3 Arena, although I think the underground bar has the same name.
For the past year being in College in DIT Bolton street my social life, and my understanding of the city has changed and evolved. Close friendships and what interests them has also changed as their lives and careers have evolved. Reflected in both of these is a significant change in the pattern of Pubs seen here.
Firstly the Southside of the Inner-City
The opening up of certain opportunities and connections leads to a slightly different cluster. Orange represents College Friends, whilst Yellow is Amnesty International Society, and Green my normal Social Groupings.
The Northside pattern shows are more distinct and less disperse pattern.
Taking in most of the pubs surrounding DIT Bolton Street this is one of the clearest indications of change over time.
In the Green my normal social activity takes in the Cineworld Cinema which I have been attending regularly since 2004. These trips now take in using the bar, and some occasions the Woolshed Bar and the near-by Church bar would be part of these excursions.
Here is an example of a recent pub crawl following exams, and where it took us through the city.
Starting in Slattery's on Capel Street, moving to the Hairy Lemon, on to Captain Americas for Food, then The Bailey on Duke Street, and ending in Diceys.
Finally we have an overall map of the pubs over time. Colours have been adjusted to differentiate.
Some icons represent the same location more than once. Most common locations over time would be, Citi Bar, Mac Turcaill's, Doyles, Messer Maguires/ J.B Sweetmans, WAR in Andrews lane Theatre, The Long Stone, and nowadays switching between Slattery's and Bodkins.
Thank you for reading this little thought exercise on Pubs and how patterns of use have changed over part of my lifetime. Maybe it'll make you also think about what patterns of socialising you may get up to yourselves over time in your Cities.
