AB Tours Dublin

Get to know the intimate history and stories of Ireland’s capital on this walking tour with local historian Alan Byrne

About This Event

Have you ever wished to get to know more about Ireland’s capital city, its history, people, buildings, statues and stories? Looking for a safe outdoor activity to enjoy during Covid restrictions? What better time than join me on an afternoon stroll around Dublin? On the tour you’ll see how Dublin was founded by the Vikings a little earlier than you may realise, see how the Norman conquest reshaped the city, learn why we have two main cathedrals right beside each other, hear the stories of the Hell district of the 18th century (including a serial killer or two), discover the hidden stories in the architecture and place names of the city and get a new appreciation of the things we take for granted in our home town. Suitable for all ages and levels of fitness, wheelchair friendly. Limited numbers and social distancing will apply. (This tour is designed for residents of Dublin who have a basic familiarity with the city and life in Ireland, but all are welcome. Guests visiting from overseas must provide proof of 14 day quarantine.)

A Note from Alan: My name is Alan Byrne. I qualified with a Masters in modern history from UCD in 2017. In the time since, I have been working as a tour guide both in Dublin and nationally, as well as working as a research assistant on an upcoming biography of Charles Haughey. In 2020 I qualified with a National Tour Guiding Badge from Failte Ireland.

Meeting Location

Barnardo Square

Dame Street

Dublin 2

Gaa Sam Maguire

All Thing’s Gaelic- Irish Sports!

Ireland has 4 very old and traditional sports that are played every year for the love and passion of the game! There are two main sports Namely Gaelic Football and Hurling, these are closely followed by Camogie and Handball. These games are prehistoric in nature and can be traced back to nearly 3’000 years ago! Trying to describe Gaelic and Hurling doesn’t really do it justice but I will try my best. The best thing to do is look up some youTube videos of these epic ancient games and you will see how skillful and rough these games are. Gaelic football is akin to soccer except that it is monumentally older than soccer and that the ball itself weighs nearly twice that of a soccer ball. The rules are simple. Score a goal it equates to 3 points, put the ball over the bar and this counts as 1 point. The main difference between Gaelic and soccer is that the use of the hands is permitted. Players may punch , hand pass the ball. Also the number of players per team is 15 per side. The player must, while running with the ball, either solo the ball (kick the ball into one’s hands) or bounce the ball, like  a basketball for every 3 steps taken.Try this at blistering speed and you will see just how difficult this is. Hurling on the other hand consists of 15 grown men basically beating each other up with sticks made of Ash with a metal band on the end…while passing at high ‘ferocious’ speed what is pretty much a rock (sliotar) this is a round ball the size and weight of  baseball.In the olden times no protection or helmets were used. Nowadays they all wear helmets, but it is still one of the fastest fieldsports in the world and is very much worth a look if you get time. 

(Hurley and Sliotar)

The best time to enjoy these fast paced games is during the summer months, where all 32 counties in Ireland compete for the All-Ireland championship in Croke park.They all fight for the right to lift the famous Sam Maguire Cup for football (see below ) and the Liam McCarthy trophy for Hurling. If you have a chance it is well worth going to see one of the games played in Croke park stadium. You will be amazed at how skillful these players are and knowing that they only do it on an unpaid amateur basis is spectacular. They are anything but amateur…only in name! They all do it for the love of the game and the passion and pride for each player is evident to see. It’s a must see in your lifetime given the chance!

Check out www.gaa.ie for more info on fixtures and ticket information.

Gaa Sam Maguire

(Happy as larry with The Sam Maguire All-Ireland Trophy) : Image by Shane Tighe from Pixabay

 If you are the adventurous type also, you may even try your hand at the beautiful game of Gaelic football.

There is a gaelic football experience right here in Dublin , where you can learn the rules and actually try your hand at scoring a few points or goal’s for yourself. This is a great day out for the individual traveller and also for a group of sport minded people!

You can take the Number 9 bus to Na Fianna football ground located in Glasnevin.

check out there for bookings and info website http://www.experiencegaelicgames.com/

If you wish to visit Croke park the Gaelic Games stadium & Museum you can do a tour Here!

Croke Park Stadium is Ireland’s largest and most iconic sporting arena and home of Ireland’s National games and Europe’s third largest Stadium. Located in Dublin’s North city centre it offers a tour and museum visit that is designed to showcase the history, culture and traditions surrounding Gaelic games.

Here are some Videos  that should get your appetite watered 

Gaelic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEAbWrdB9XU

Hurling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmzivRetelE

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The 5 Lamps Brewery tour and visitor centre is located inside the 1st floor of the Camden Bar on Camden Street. This newly renovated building dates back to the early 1900’s.The building opened as a 400 seat cinema ‘the Camden’ in 1912. It was enlarged and rebuilt in 1920 with 1200 seats in a Neo-Classical style and rebranded “the Camden De Luxe”. Later the exterior was remodelled in Art deco/Egyptian style in 1934 and seating capacity was increased for 1395 patrons. It had a 30ft wide proscenium, a 32ft deep stage and there were six dressing rooms. According to local lore Rita Hayworth attended a screening here in the 1950s! The cinema closed its doors on June 29th 1974. In 1975 it reopened as Ricardo’s amusement hall, the interior hall was split over two floors to accommodate a snooker hall. The stucco ceiling has been fully refurbished and may be familiar to many Commitments fans as the venue was used to host a rendition of “Mustang Sally” in Roddy Doyle’s famous 1991 movie about an aspiring Dublin Soul band with self interviewing manager Jimmy Rabbitte. ‘Jimmy Rabbittes’ is also the name of the small Irish local bar attached to the 5 lamps Camden Bar. This movie is well worth a watch for the music alone.

The 5 lamps Beer is established in 2012 is the brainchild of Brian Fagan along with William Harvey, coaxed out of retirement to become the master brewer for Five Lamps Lager. William is a former Guinness Brewer with over 27 years to his name for the Giant Brewer.’He does all the cool brewing stuff’. His wealth of knowledge and experience has served the 5 lamps well! Fancy getting a deck of Cards with Williams as the joker– we got you covered!. Glasses with our brand language ”Dublinese’ T-shirts and beers are available to purchase in our gift shop at the end of the tour.

The Unique Dublin style of the 5 Lamps brand gives visitors the chance to see a more real and unique version of Dublin. The tour has a 10 min video ‘A Love Letter To Dublin’ [in your own private cinema!] from Dublin singer Imelda may to get you in the know of all things Dublin before you start your tasting session. Our Expert guide will fill you full of the local Dublin slang and all the beers 5 lamps currently have on offer. These include our Trademark 5 lamps Lager, Red Ale, Stout, Irish Pale Ale , Light-Lager and our rotational Seasonal Brew! The Five Lamps Dublin Brewery Tour finishes with a beer tasting of the full Five Lamps range.

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Walk around Temple bar these days (2020) and it is a shell of what it used to be, we sat down and spoke with Robbie , the General Manager of the Old Storehouse one of Temple Bar’s most popular Tourist Bars & Restaurant to find out more about himself and the history of the Bar, along with his current thoughts on how Covid is affecting the tourist industry in General.

The Old Storehouse is one of our most favourite bars in all of Dublin, even though it is generally a touristic spot, it has some of the greatest Trad musicians the Island of Ireland has to offer and some of the best Irish Grub in town. Friendly and welcoming staff make this a regular haunt for locals and Tourist’s alike. Robbie himself is somewhat of a local celebrity, you’ll find him on their Facebook page in many videos, teaching people how to wash hands to the tune of ‘Jolene’ , or many videos celebrating the good craic that can be had in the bar, he’s also a mad Tottenham Hotspur’s fan but we won’t hold it against him.

The Bar itself actually consists of 3 bars, The main Bar on the top floor with bar, stage and Restaurant, O’flaherty’s downstairs which has a much larger stage and ample seating for many live music shows, food and drinks are also served below and our favourite little Snug Bar. – Tommy’s Bar, a cosy little hideaway from all the hustle and bustle outside. It’s like having your own barman/barmaid in your living room!

The bar is well worth a visit and the most redeeming quality about it is it’s abundance of space and the many historical Irish pictures dotted around the building. You can enjoy your food and beer in a nice atmosphere and don’t need to worry about it ever getting too crowded (Except some weekends…but isn’t that the fun of it all!).

All in all the Music is Great, the food is Great , the staff are great and it also has a neat smoking area , adorned with Guinness’s new Roe & Co. Pear Whiskey. The history of the building is also quite fascinating as told by the man himself!

Interview- Sept 2020 with Robbie McCarthy GM Old Storehouse:

Dermot :

Couple of questions. First things first, Who are you? what do you do here? And how did you get in the Bar Trade?

Robbie:
Me? My name is Robert McCarthy. I’m the GM of the old storehouse pub in Temple Bar.I’ve been here the 11 years, how did I fall into the bar game? When I was in school and 17 in my last year of school, I got a part-time job over in a nightclub in Dublin 4 for the Burlington hotel and yeah, just started collecting glasses then and then went on from there. It’s just the whole social aspect of it all that was appealing to me. It was Annabel’s nightclub in the Burlington hotel. Very famous, very famous back then.

Dermot:

11 Years later you ended up here!

Robbie:
That was In 1989, and then, after a year or two later, I started working in the bar upstairs in the hotel, stay there for about three years, and then decided to go to Germany for two years. Had a great short time in Berlin , came back two years later, we’re back to the Burlington to stay there three years, started getting itchy feet again, and decided to go to Australia! So then I went to Sydney in Australia for two years, and did a bit of travelling around the world and all that jazz and then I came back and then started walking in a pub on the Quays and then felt mature, mature enough to get into management and then going into management jobs in 2002 . Ended up close by , in the Quays in Temple Bar in 2003 this bar close to here. Yeah, stay there for six years and then I came over here to the old storehouse, which is only about 200 metres from the Quay’s.

Dermot:
Where does the name come from the old storehouse?

Robbie:
Well this was an actual storehouse for years and it dates back over 100 years and became a public house in the mid 90s and it was called the rock garden. And yes, it became a Eamonn Dorans rock bar witth many famous acts all devolved played here, Cranberries to name but a few…any any Irish act generally started giging here in Dublin. Radiohead did their first European gig here actually!

Yeah.

And yeah, they’ve the fun loving criminals one of the guys was part owner here, Huey from the Fun Lovin Criminals, oh and the republic of loose, Yeah, they were formed here and they were the house band for Eamonn Dorans, that’s right. And then unfortunately Eamon Dorans wasn’t successful during the recession. So that’s when I came to run the bar for the owner of the building. We went with the Guinness Storehouse concept /name because we are going to be a tourist pool to connect people come in who are in the Guinness Storehouse. The Guinness Storehouse is the most visited tourist attraction in Ireland. So hence the connection with the name Old Storehouse.

Dermot:
A Connection with the name Storehouse then!

Robbie
But it was a storehouse this place was a storehouse and it was old! ,.. so makes sense!

Dermot:
There’s a part of this building. I heard correct me if I’m wrong, was possibly used in the Rebellion as a bomb making factory!

Robbie
Could well be I’ve not heard that.

I’d say this building has a lot of stories to tell in the last 200 years.

Dermot:
The names of the bars, so this Tommy’s Bar Snug, Where does the name come from?

Robbie:
Tommy come from when we were building the pub because this was a rock and roll bar and when we were building the pub to what it is now, there was an on-site carpenter, for the four five years and his name was Tommy. He was a bit of an old character. So he built that Snug and we decided that we will call it Tommy’s bar in his honour!

Dermot:
As far as the downstairs bar is concerned O’Flaherty’s , so far as any particular reason why it’s called this?

Robbie:
We went with this name because it was an Irish name, and we wanted to the honour our Irish American colleagues. O’Flaherty’s is at the old storehouse, we in hindsight, and when people were looking for it, they couldn’t spell Flaherty’s, right. So a lot of people didn’t get it. Okay. In hindsight, we maybe should have done a different name for it.

Dermot Murphy
So no significance really then!

Robbie
absolutely no, see, no, not nothing. Not

Dermot:
You’ve said, there’s been a lot of Musicians coming in over the years, and even in Eamonn Dorans time. Gavin James I believe played here?

Robbie:
Yes he played here as well, when we opened the pub 11 years ago, the place Sat night was doing quite well as was Friday , Sunday wasn’t doing that well and three young lads who were kind of 17 to 18, good musicians came in here said they’d like to gig here and we gave them a shot on a Sunday night and they grew the pub and , one of the guy’s name was Gavin Rigglesworth who went on to become Gavin James.

Dermot:
Oh, I did not know that wasn’t his real name!

Robbie:
His real name was Wrigglesworth. We believe he thought that wasn’t a good stage name, I guess. So change to Gavin James, a bit like Elton john. and Cliff Richard.

Dermot:
In regard to what’s going on at the minute, the whole COVID-19 thing this bar is to have the bullets of maximum occupancy in here.

Robbie:
800 ppl generally.

Dermot:
What do you think is the Unique Selling Point ? What do you think is unique about this bar compared to other bars?

Robbie:
What we have here is a lot of space in this area, we do food, drink and live music. We kind of do our trade. Some of them just do two of them, someone would just do one of them. We have an advantage with our size and what we’ve kind of created here we do our three main jobs really well. We also have space on our side. So we do good food, have a great restaurant and are filled with really good musicians so we generally have a full bar.

Dermot:
I think space actually is one of the best selling points during this pandemic!

Robbie:
Spaces is our friend, as well. Yeah!

Dermot:

Just in regard to this COVID I skipped over. How do you think it’s going to pan out in the next year? 12 months? Yeah, how are you finding it?

Robbie:
It’s, it’s gonna be tough. We reopened here on the 6th July and we are doing less than 20% of business what we are doing this time last year. And as long as flights don’t come in to Dublin, I can see an increased anymore what what we’re doing at the minute, maybe a tiny, tiny tiny bit for so. So if

Dermot :
you don’t get the tourists into this country, you’re basically in a tight spot then?

Robbie:
Correct!

Like the rest, like the rest of us definitely not doing well like all hospitality particularly in the Temple Bar area.

Dermot:
Yes. Particularly. Even the Temple Bar bars Yeah, because not many Tourists coming in!

Robbie
all the main players in terms of Temple Bar Bars are still closed!

Dermot Murphy
What do you think of the safety COVID charter

How do you think it’ll effects because it’s based on Irish people coming here? Yeah, right here.

Robbie:
Yeah, I don’t think it’s been well thought out. I think it’s just been a knee jerk reaction. I don’t think they’ve talked to people hands on the ground to to get it right and it’s…….yeah not been good!

Dermot:
Do you have any memorable nights here? Do you have any any one night that kind of stand up here?

Robbie:
Yeah, I think Gavin James’s last night was singing here. Before he went when he signed his record deal. Was to me was a real special night for me.

That’s about six years ago.

is a Sunday night about six years ago and it was his last night. It was last night Gigging here because he was here and he was. He was a Sunday night singer for about four or five years!

Dermot:

And what types of musics do you do here?

Robbie:
Yeah, we mostly do Irish music. Yeah. And we feel on a Friday and Saturday night when there’s more people, younger people we kind of bit do a bit more contemporary, but certainly up to up to up to nine or 10 every night and then we stick with Irish music, Irish style music.

Dermot:

With the Staff here, you probably had to cut down during the Covid Crisis?

Robbie:
It was, we had 42 staff on payroll before covid and we would have been expanding , we would have been that was in middle of March. So we would have increased probably to about 47/48 during summer and currently we have hired back only 14 staff!

Dermot:
Wow…That’s sad. That’s very sad. Considering Yeah, yeah.

See all the memorabilia things in the world were they bought by the owner?

Robbie:

Yeah, they were bought by us!
So what we did was we decided on an idea and we had an in house Carpenter here for six years. We only closed the parts of the bar as needed. So we did it our way as the Bar was open. There’s a place on up north where you can go and buy our old style memorabilia, which we did. We just added on in time and took ideas from other places.

Dermot:
Yeah, anything in the bar that you particularly think it’s worth a few quid, you know, very unique?

Robbie:
Yeah, there’s a few things that we bought on eBay over the years and would be particularly expensive, but most of them would be would be just generic.

Dermot:
Is there any one item that you can remember ?Anything that sticks out?

Robbie:
We had jersey’s we’ve taken them down already. We had a boxing glove of Katie Taylor. We gave that to someone kind of stayed away from the whole sport, oh we have a Guinness lamp behind Tommy’s bar with a Toucan and that was that was quite expensive.

Dermot:
If you had an infinite budget, loads of money! What would you do with this place? What could you see yourself? like seeing the way that what I’m getting at is the way the bars are coming out onto the street more?

Robbie:
Yes,Yeah, the whole area should be pedestrianised. Thank you. We would love to have loads of furniture , tables and chairs outside our Bar but nothing so far. Yes. We would love to have it and we’ve gone we’ve gone down every channel to try and put furniture outside but unfortunately the council have said no no no and rejected the idea.

Dermot:

Thanks for your Time Robbie! Much appreciated

Robbie:

Pleasure!

Anti-Social : Dublin’s Hottest New Bar!

Fresh from the creator’s that brought you Dublin’s craziest Bingo Rave ‘Bingo Loco’ this Bar was bound to not disappoint. Located in one of Dublin’s most up and coming vibrant areas the Liberties, Dublin 8.Anti-Social boasts an impressive selection of fine drinks and unique events. The liberties is attracting all the coolest artist, musicians and creators in town so it is no wonder that this is where they decided to setup their first Bar. Is it Anti – Social? Not in the least, the staff are friendly and warm, youthful and exuberant on suggesting the best beers/cocktails they have to offer.

There is a great Craft Beer selection, something after my own tastes would be a lovely White Hag IPA. The floors are sparkly, the walls are adorned with pink and orange posters to keep you awake and vibrant! There is even a well spaced out smoking area with tent like cover to keep the pesky rain away to all you smokers out there! The bathrooms are decorated in all pink B-movie posters which are worth a browse also, while you tend to business. Super clean and super compliant during these Covid Times it’s definitely worth a look. Their Cheese toasties are just the ticket to quench your hunger and if you miss them that much you can even get them on Deliveroo! With such titles as ‘The Anti-Social’, ‘The big Cheese’ and ‘Big Daddy Buff’ you can’t go wrong!

The absolute Genius marketing team behind this bar got into survival mode once the lockdown hit, within a hot minute they had arranged an online cocktail delivery service door to door all over Dublin. Impressive given the bar was just starting out and just opened it’s doors in November 2019. We wish them every success for the future and if you are in town for a short weekend, it’s definitely worth a look, especially if you like the newest things in town & some epic Cocktail towers! Pornstar Martini ,Sex on the Beach and Party punch are among their most popular cocktails.

PHONE

0877082848

EMAIL

hello@antisocial.ie

LOCATION

Anti Social
101 Francis Street
Dublin 8, Ireland

HOURS

M-Sa 12–midnight
Su 12 noon–11pm

Jacobs Inn

Hostel Tips & Tricks

hostel tips & tricks ! according to dermo and others !

These are some general rules and advice for staying in a hostel or backpackers, we all want our Hostel experience to be enjoyable and stress free…so these are some quick Hostel tips & tricks in order to keep both you and the staff at the hostel on sweet terms..

A note on us; All of us here have been working the desk of some of Dublin’s busiest tourist hostels for too many years to mention . Me, I have also stayed in hostels around the world so I hope I can give you some good pointers on how to maximize your stay from both sides !

tip # 1: book the right date!

There is nothing worse than seeing the face of a person arriving at the desk with the sudden realisation, after we tell them that they have reserved the wrong date!. Pay attention, seeing someone’s face drop to the floor is not a pretty sight! For example one of the most common errors is reserving the day you have made the reservation rather than the actual date you want to stay..uhoo spaghettiooo L. We do our utmost to accommodate all these kinds of problems so don’t worry most staff don’t want to see you go homeless for the night.!

tip #2 : be nice!

Being polite and being nice, saying your please and thank you’s believe it or not go a very very long way!. The respect factor ups about 50 points if they appreciate your time as precious and vice versa.

tip #3 : ask questions! (or read our blog !!)

Local knowledge is key to any enjoyable stay, the whole purpose of our job at the desk is not only to check you in but to be your very own personal tourist guide! For the most part we know the cheapest best and easiest way to get to places, what’s on in the city and where the best venues and gigs are. Of course we do love the good old classics, like how do I get to the airport! Which we incidentally get asked approximately 300 times a day…and believe it or not, yes we do know how to get to the airport! Although I have to admit I like mixing it up a bit and giving people long directions to the bus stop that is 5 seconds away..in the end I tell them it’s at the end of the street..don’t fret, we are not that cruel!

tip #4 : respect fellow travellers.

Being in a dorm room with 10 or sometimes more people can get a bit out of control , but if everyone sticks to their space and tries to keep the noise down at night makes for a good atmosphere. My advice is try to get to know your fellow roommates, you may even end up going out that night and having a life long friend!. In my case that’s exactly what happened! Phil! You saved my life!…:)

tip #5 label your food!

Putting a label on the good old grub keeps the housekeepers away and also the local food nabbers! They assume otherwise someone has just left it there and will not hesitate to add that extra key ingredient that you may have to their spag Bol! Keep it tidy..keep it dated!

tip #6 have fun!

Go out on the town, try to immerse yourself in not only the touristic things but also the local spots. The locals know the very best spots and if you ever come back to your destination, you may even have a place to stay! Imagine that! Snuggles all round!

tip #7: take advantage of the free stuff!

Free Breakfast, free walking tours, free Wi-fi, free museums…if something doesn’t involve some monetary transaction, why not take advantage of it. The best way to stick to your budget is not to pay…simple rules! But I live by them and I can say I’ve had some amazing trips on a dime!

tip #8: get social within the common areas!

See that thing called your phone or Laptop..unless you are booking a flight or calling mom to say hi, close them, shut them off and talk with your fellow travellers. I see it all the time people in a foreign country online and supposedly having the best time ever…online! And not moving from the couch. Get out enjoy the sights and only use the gadgets as a necessity! Better yet talk to the guy or girl next to you, like the dorm it can evolve to some of the best friendships ever..that or the worst but at least you tried!

tip # 9: reserve early

The sooner you know your expected date book it! For some reason we here at Jacobs and Isaacs are just so darn popular these days that without fail we are booked up every weekend.. I put it down the great staff and facilities but I may be slightly biased on this front!

tip #10: come back!

My motto is places don’t go anywhere, people do so try not to cram everything into the one trip, always leave something unfinished so that if you do ever come back, you have something new and interesting to do. I’ve lived in Dublin for 8 years and I still haven’t seen everything or every pub…although I have tried, tried so hard! We have the best bars in the world and as you can imagine there are over 1000 within the city limits of Dublin alone…imagine that for a pub Crawl!

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