J.W Sweetman

What makes a pub a pub? Some are easier classified than others – Mulligan’s, The Palace, Bowe’s: all exemplary specimens. But one tends to stumble upon grey areas when looking at more modern establishments.

We’ve touched on hotel bars in a previous post and we all agree that the bog standard Jury’s or Hilton bar isn’t a pub. But what about when it comes to trendy nightlife spots? You know the type – loud tunes, pricey gargle and scantily clad young-wans all over the shop. What classification are these places worthy of amongst the city’s licensed premises? It was in these wonderings that we defined a rule, and for posterity’s sake, it’s only appropriate to word it in a manner befitting of a Leaving Certificate mathematics textbook.

Dublin By Pub’s theorem states that a premises which holds a license to serve intoxicating liquor for consumption may only be classified as a public house in the event that said premises be available to accommodate a funeral gathering from the earliest time at which it is legally allowed to begin service.

So if I can’t come in and cry about me dead granny over a pint at an ungodly hour, it’s not a pub! Anyway, I’ve really gone off on a tangent here, and with good reason. You might pass Sweetmans on a Saturday night and mistake it for the aforementioned trendy spots given the loud tunes and large crowd, but you would be mistaken for doing so.

Sprawled over 4 floors, this pub is one which has often been the saving grace of many the night when the two sexes found themselves at loggerheads over where to go. Offering dance-worthy music and old-school pints overlooking the Liffey all under the one roof: Sweetmans is a pub which caters for all. The wooden-clad interior of the pub is in harmony with the old quayside building it dwells within.

The beer is a good mix of craft (the house porter being a personal favourite) and mainstream which further adds to the global appeal factor. The crowd is a healthy mix of Dublin footfall.

Sweetman’s is certainly one the most globally appealing choice of shops in town. We spent Paddy’s Day just gone here and couldn’t but recommend it for a group night on the lock.,