For centuries, the public house has been an important part of the social and cultural history of Dublin. Beginning with the taverns and ale houses of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this book brings the reader on a visual journey that passes through familiar institutions as well as much-lamented public houses that are no longer to be found.

Along the way, we encounter characters as diverse and famous around the capital as Theobald Wolfe Tone, Nell McCafferty and Con Houlihan. Visitors to Dublin are here, as the photographer Lee Miller seeks out the city of James Joyce. The ‘Plain People of Ireland’ are present too, in chapters exploring everything from temperance to karaoke.

The hidden histories of world-renowned public houses such as The Long Hall, Grogan’s and The Palace feature, as do the stories of Dublin’s early houses, gay bars and shebeens. Drawing from rich archival collections, The Dublin Pub includes previously unpublished photographs as well as oral recollections that bring the history of the Dublin pub to life. From the Irish revolution to social revolutions of more recent times, this is the story of the Dublin public house.