2022 US Trip – Day 31 (Dublin’s Keavan’s Port Pub Again)

When I took this photo I was quite impressed that JD Wetherspoon offered this lunch deal in the Republic of Ireland and thought it would be a positive thing to launch in the UK. But they now have, so that’s that helpful suggestion rendered a little irrelevant. I won’t linger on writing about this pub as I’d already been there a month before at the start of this trip. It’s an expensive and really quite brilliant conversion of an historic building into a pub, something which JD Wetherspoon do achieve on a regular basis.

I accept that returning to the same venue isn’t very creative, but my friend Liam and I had visited every craft beer bar we could find in Dublin earlier on in the year. I was getting a little tired after a month away, so this was a cheap and cheerful option. A pint of Beamish, which I think is better than Guinness and there’s not much choice on that matter anyway at Wetherspoons in Dublin as they don’t sell Guinness, along with a basic burger. On the Guinness, I suspect that’s more because Diageo doesn’t want to annoy other pubs in the city by having one chain selling it much cheaper than everyone else.

This meal was more of a faff than I felt ideal. My food arrived after five minutes, but no drink. I went to the bar as it’s often already been poured there and I can just collect it, but the slightly unhelpful member of bar staff said that there was no order made for Beamish and she confidently stated no order for a burger had been received either and she suggested it hadn’t gone through. I mentioned my food was already at the table so I knew the order had gone through and asked politely if she could pour the Beamish, but she confirmed that my food hadn’t arrived which seemed an odd thing to say.

I went back to my table and then decided this was just slightly ridiculous, so I went back to the bar looking as polite as possible. I got another team member who just poured the Beamish without checking anything, she was really quite helpful. I left the bar happy, partly because it was sorted and partly because I had a delicious pint of Beamish. I heard the original team member say to her colleague “did you find that Beamish?” but I’m unsure of what the dialogue was after that as I was too occupied with my drink, food and ensuring that my devices were charging.

Despite the little issue with the drink, I do like this venue, it’s spacious, modern and feels comfortable. It’s also one of the few places that has unlimited coffees available in Dublin, which seemed to be attracting a number of extra customers in. For anyone wanting a peaceful environment during weekdays, which I’d say is ideal after being away for a month, they could do worse than here.