Nazi Bombings, Hollywood Legends, and a Teetotaler’s Last Pint—The Wild History of Cusack’s Pub 

There I was, all set to start this write-up on the perfect line. I had gone over it in my head when I’d be passing by the pub on the bus, reciting different variations of it, playing around with the phrasing and the timing over and over again:  

• It might seem strange to have a pub closely associated with a teetotaller, but that’s exactly the case when it comes to Cusack’s. 

• Cusack’s might seem like your everyday, run-of-the-mill Dublin boozer, but what if I told you that it was closely associated with one of Dublin’s most famous teetotallers?  

These permutations went on like that in my head for a spell. Before long, I pined for the moment when I would finally sit down at my keyboard, commit a final version and put the whole thing to bed. But then, in the midst of it all, I found myself wandering across the city and it wasn’t as I passed the Padraig Pearse that I twigged it – it was in the subsequent passing of a pub named for another executed signatory of the proclamation – the James Connolly, that the realisation passed over me. Pubs being associated with famous sober figures wasn’t quite the anomaly that I had first taken it to be.

Thankfully, I wasn’t due to pass The Bernard Shaw Pub that day, which might have been a bridge too far – but I did cross a nearer bridge which links me back to the original figure I wanted to refer to – Matt Talbot. The Venerable Matt Talbot, who has been referenced on this blog previously, is a religious figure from turn-of-century Dublin who renounced his terrible drunken ways and dedicated his life to God. Matt’s dedication took the form of undertaking the hardest forms of labour, coupled with levels of self-inflicted discomfort that would land a modern man inside a psychiatric ward. But them was the days before Fifty Shades of Grey, and one can only surmise that this is simply how masochists made their way in the world back then, so we’ll leave it at that, for fear of kink-shaming poor Matt. 

But why are we talking about Matt Talbot, and why has it taken several paragraphs to finally get around to mentioning Cusack’s – the pub in the article’s title?  Matt is linked with the pub due to the fact that it’s said he took his very last drink in Cusack’s of The North Strand, before giving up his auld sins, and to be honest, he couldn’t have chosen a better place for the proverbial one last time for old time’s sake. 

There are many things that I like about Cusack’s, but one that I enjoy the most is that the pub’s very décor imparts something about Dublin’s history in an indirect way. The pub, with its antique diver helmets, shipboard ceiling, sailor’s knots and seafarer’s lamps is one which evidently has a nautical theme – and while it’s not exactly inland, it’s far enough from the coast that I did find myself wondering about the choice of theme when first I visited. And if you’re willing to wonder about that, you’re likely to wonder about the sea wall outside the pub – the one nowhere near the sea. And all of this will ultimately lead you to understand that the coastline of Dublin was once to be found in or around the environs of the pub, making its nautical theme entirely valid. 

Aside from nautical ephemera, you’ll also find plenty of images and news clippings related to the bombing of the North Strand by the Nazis in 1941 on the display in the pub, which was not struck in the bombing of the area. And if you’ll allow me to categorize that horrific event as a tenuous connection to Berlin for the purpose of this article, the pub also holds another such connection – in the form of the story that Hollywood A-Couple of the day Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are said to have visited the pub when Burton was filming an adaptation of John Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold where Dublin was used to shoot scenes set in Cold War Berlin. Lore has it that Taylor was given special dispensation to use the Gents, there being no option of a Ladies’ Room at the time, and that her chauffeur, alongside some locals, stood guard outside while she was relieving herself.  

Power-couples aside – the pub, at its heart, is a locals’ sort of pub – it’s actually so locals-oriented that I’m nearly sure I’ve had something of a Liam Neeson moment there, where a regular’s dog recognised me from a previous occasion when I was in for a few scoops. I actually have a picture of this dog (below), and just noticed he’s in the main picture of the pub (above), just to the right of the door.

It should, however, be noted that its proximity to Croke Park means that you can forget about cosy local vibes where match and concert days are concerned. 

The pub has offered a full food menu (though I’m not sure if it still does), but this hasn’t been found to interfere with its standing as a decent drinker’s pub, in the way that other pubs’ food offerings can. Regarding the drink, there’s no surprises to be had – it’s your standard offering of familiar brands, and there’s no fault in their Guinness, from this drinker’s perspective.  When last visited, in early 2025, the pint was priced at €6.20. 

So come ye repentant sinners looking to sin one last time. Come seafarers. Come It-Couples, match-goers, concert-goers and drinkers all. Give Cusack’s a look – unlike Matt Talbot, you won’t regret it.