Brannigan’s: Cathedral St.
Sitting in the shadows of the Pro-Cathedral and just off the main thoroughfare of O’Connell St. lies a boozer by the name of Brannigan’s. The pub which is named after an infamous Dublin Gard who would offer his detainees the option of duking it out in lieu of traditional state-sanctioned justice, is one which evaded us for many years. I should in this instance start by commending Brannigan’s on their website, which gives a great history of the pub and its surrounding locality and is well worth a read. Over the years we’d been in a mere handful of times and we recently ventured in to remind ourselves of what the pub was like.
A more effulgent shop compared to most of its contemporaries, the pub is no standard fare when it comes to drinking establishments across the city. Large gothic arches overhang the open space which provides a good mixture of high and low seating. The seating itself is upholstered in vibrant stripes which complement the light-coloured walls nicely. Flourishes of darker tones of wood add reminders of more prevailing décor throughout and overall we couldn’t argue with the pub’s aesthetic. The most notable feature of the pub, to us anyway, was the cumulation of portraits across the walls. Well-executed and striking painted and drawn images of famous faces provide fodder on subjects aplenty, from history to literature to sport and to music, all bases are covered.
We last wandered in on a Saturday afternoon when the bar was busy, a steady stream of young sportswear buyers presumably replaced the steady stream of old dears from the nearby branch of Boyers which had been repurposed as a sports megastore. We ordered our usual jars of stout from the bar which was well decorated with surrendered foreign denominations. We were returned a few well-poured pints which were sank with zero complaints. We stayed for a few pints and conversed on subjects stemming from the aforementioned portraits along with discussing the stairs down to the gents which seemed to have been left out of the latest refurbishment.
We’d certainly return to Brannigan’s at a moment’s notice. It’s a nice boozer with an easygoing pace about itself. Well recommended.
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