Palatial surroundings for whiskey

The Palace Bar in the heart of Dublin City, Ireland. The Bar is long and narrow inside you need to be slim! This wee pub has been the haunt of some of the best writers in the country for generations. The Irish Times is the best paper in the country and it is a stones throw away. For years journalists and writers of the Times have come to the bar for beer’s, ales, whiskey’s and wines. Charles Acton, Brendan Behan, John Banville, Liam MacGabhann, Maeve Binchy, Vincent Browne, Garret Fitzgerald. All of these names passed through the corridors of the Times, and Palace bar.

Nae loud music or dancing here, just drinking and conversation. The Victorian pub built in 1823, and in the mid 1940s was sold for an extortionate amount of money. Many questioned if  Bill Aherne the buyer at the time, was off his head, considering the astronomical fee for the little pub. But Aherne believed he was getting a bargain. So it was, in 1946 Bill Aherne shelled out the £27,000 for pub and became Palace Bar’s new owner. If you go into the Pub today you won’t see Bill Aherne, you will see his grandson William and his father Liam. It was from the 1930s to the 1960s that some of Ireland’s most talented writers, poets and journalists were regulars. They drank at the Palace largely because Robert M. Smyllie drank there. Smyllie was editor of the Irish Times from 1934 to 1954. So he stopped in often, and the city’s literary talent followed, hoping to get a piece commissioned. Four bronze plaques set in stone on the ground outside depict regulars: Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, Flann O’Brien and Con Houlihan. Liam Aherne, can remember a certain Mr Kernoff putting up his art pieces. His studio was off the South Circular Road, on Stamer Street. Kernoff’s work was under appreciated until his later years. But over the decades, dozens of his paintings were sold at the Palace, usually for £10 to £20, if you were lucky. The Palace’s decor is the same today as it was when it first opened. When in Dublin I usually am to be found in here at least once a day, so if you want some grand chat, talk or just listen, and you can actually get in, then do so.  They have a huge selection of every imaginable Irish whiskey behind the bar.

Once in, look and listen, locals and tourists alike are here, when I was in last time it was fun. Sat sittin at the bar was an old guy with a dram and half pint chaser, he was chatting to two pals. All three looked like they could do with a good meal, and a shave. Sliding up a bit to get a better listen, their conversations made me laugh, women, drinks, friends, but most of all, horses. Now I know a wee bit about horses – my grand dad bred them doon in Kilkenny, and I worked on an equestrian magazine for a while. They were talking about racehorses, they knew stable boys and jockey’s that much was clear. All talking about how horse racing is a big con, fixed, the boys and jockeys know, now I had a better understanding. My grand dad had told us this years ago. One old timer saw me listening and nodding to myself, he wagged a finger callin me over. As you do, I turned round to see who he was calling, it was myself. I pointed to my own chest, he nodded, I went over. Asked if I knew anything about horses, I told him what I knew. They ordered drinks and a Coleraine for me. We talked for at least an hour before one had to go. I bought a round or two of the turf style, was enjoying this. Turns out one used to be a jockey, one a journalist – horse racing – and the other a writer of novels. One of my best ever nights in Dublin.  Paul McLean aka Sean Daley