Agree wholeheartedly on Hayes. Smashing spot for an all day session I would say.
Visited two of the newer pubs in Dublin over the last few weeks - McSorley’s in Ranelagh and the Baggott Inn, the latter I was in last night. Was impressed with neither - super pubs with horrendous music…
A round of 1 Guinness and 2 Heineken came to €16 which equates to €5.50 for the Heineken and €5 for the stout - steep…
[quote=“farmerinthecity”]Agree wholeheartedly on Hayes. Smashing spot for an all day session I would say.
Visited two of the newer pubs in Dublin over the last few weeks - McSorley’s in Ranelagh and the Baggott Inn, the latter I was in last night. Was impressed with neither - super pubs with horrendous music…
A round of 1 Guinness and 2 Heineken came to 16 which equates to 5.50 for the Heineken and 5 for the stout - steep…[/quote]
Didn’t like the Baggot Inn the time I went there. Full of knobs.
The only thing it had going for it was the Dyson Airblades.
Yeah - would rather the Xcelerator drier that they have in New York though…
So, the football season is starting this weekend and it promises to be our first one away from our Bar 51 base since the 2004/05 season. I’d been in the bar a few times before but it wasn’t my home and back then it was just like any other pub to me. Then the Bandage, Jugs and cesc4 roadshow moved to Ballsbridge in summer 2004. I was studying for my accountancy finals and was observing an alcohol ban (save for the weekend of Wexford’s All-Ireland semi final hiding against Cork but I wasn’t in Bar 51 over those 3 days). Then exam week was completed and I was back in the game and ready to sample my new surrounds. Ireland were opening their WC 2006 qualifying campaign on the Saturday afternoon at home to Cyprus (3-0 win - Andy Reid got a beauty) and I suggested to cesc4 that we check out Bar 51.
And it was wonderful and beautiful and it lasted until 7 March, 2008. Then things changed utterly with the price rise coming in a time of economic instability and with other pubs closing down. How could they try to cream their loyal customers like that? How could they? I haven’t set foot in there since that fateful night in March and, sure, we’ve tried all those other pubs mentioned on the earlier pages of this thread. But none of them matches The 51 (it was only Bar 51 to us for a mere month or so).
They didn’t have the 2 Noels sitting just inside the door. They didn’t have that annoying cunt John and his rubbish jokes. They didn’t have Louis popping in when it was quiet, having 7 or 8 glasses of red wine and then cycling home. They didn’t have old Mick telling us to fook off back to Wexford. They didn’t have Colm Cullen and his messy beard and his soccer prediction league. They didn’t have PJ, The Bar Manager, and his incomprehensible Westmeath accent. The didn’t have Colin, the barman who joined us for a drink after his afternoon shift one Saturday and ended up cracking his head off the table when he got pissed and lay there on the ground pumping blood as myself, Jugs and cesc4 erupted in laughter.
They didn’t have Ciarn being ignorant to customers and revelling in it. They didn’t have Nicky, the annoying Glaswegian barman, who doubled up as an actor and played the role of Gordon McGregor in Fair City. They didn’t have Aidan, the tough, no-nonsense but sensitive barman, who stopped a fight between us and Guy Easterby’s English mates after Portugal beat England in the WC 2006 penalty shoot-out and we jumped up and down on the seats in front of them and riled them to the point of violence for about 2 hours after the game. They didn’t have Paddy, the knacker barman from Taghmon in Wexford, who openly called customers ‘cunts’ to their faces.
They didn’t have barmen who gave us the keys to the upstairs function room when rugby was on downstairs so we could watch football in privacy. They didn’t have barmen who gave us the honour of setting the playlist for the evening on the touchscreen jukebox. They didn’t have barmen who gave us free platters of food every Saturday night to shut us up when we were getting rowdy and abusive. They didn’t have barmen who invited us to regular lock-ins. They didn’t have barmen that arranged to show various different sporting events simultaneously. They didn’t have barmen who let me make Eurovision scorecards and hand them out around the pub and who then showed the competition on all the TVs and announced an official pub winner before the real result. They weren’t The 51.
I want to go back there but I don’t think it’s possible.
My lord…come back Mairegangaire…all is forgiven…
I knew nobody would understand the depth of my pain. But it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
I hear ye barking big dog…but you needed to break free in order for them to be held as fond memories…if it was still happening it would be a way of life and no week there wud be different from any other…you’ve moved on poundage and the full development of poundage from boy to man is now one more step nearer to completion…
I think this must be the guy who took a disliking to my boss one night we were in there. The boss went up to get a round of gargles in and was told the bar was closing. Another lad in the group wasn’t standing for it so decided to take matters into his own hands and got served without any hassle at all. Was this guy picky with who he decided to be ignorant to?
Yeah, he’d just be ignorant for the sake of being ignorant. He was really ignorant to us first and then we called him an ignorant cunt to his face one night and he was still ignorant to us. Then we kind of jeered the fook out of him for being ignorant and he was still ignorant. After a while, he began telling us about some of the ignorant things he’d do to customers and he basically did most of the ignorant stuff to amuse himself. That was probably him who wouldn’t serve your boss alright.
Whatever happened to the proposed interim compromise of slightly less than a pint for your fiver. If something like that could be negotiated it might be grounds for a return. Other than that I don’t know what ye’ll do.
Bandage…you must have known the Wexford man that was a bar man in the 51 for a good while. sound man he is too…
Buttle? He was a cunt!
Rocko, they said we couldn’t keep getting the 547ml glasses of beer because their till was taking the money in as pints for 5.20 and we were only paying 5. Given the amount of time we spent in there, they said their accountant would have trouble reconciling the books.
Oft frequented the 51 due to Bandage’s almost constant presence in there and the following amusing times spring to mind:
The fateful last day Bandage was there myself and Tinnion joined Bandage and cesc4 who were sitting along the bar. The manager bloke PJ was serving that night and any time he walked (or any of the barmen) by the two lads they started into a chorus of booing and hissing. They clearly were pissed off but wouldn’t dare kick the lads out. As this had nothing to do with me I was keeping quiet but as I was ordering pints the barmen had to walk by the two lads to drop the pint to me. When I got up to go to the jacks yer man PJ stopped me half way up the bar and said ‘Here if you want a pint again do you mind coming up here and ordering. I can’t walk by those two gobshites again. It looks bad to the customers.’ I didn’t obey him.
I also remember the time the bar man from Wexford with a bar through his ear threw a newspaper at Jugs when he slagged him for something knocking everyone’s glass over - and he couldn’t give a shit!!
[quote=“farmerinthecity”]Oft frequented the 51 due to Bandage’s almost constant presence in there and the following amusing times spring to mind:
The fateful last day Bandage was there myself and Tinnion joined Bandage and cesc4 who were sitting along the bar. The manager bloke PJ was serving that night and any time he walked (or any of the barmen) by the two lads they started into a chorus of booing and hissing. They clearly were pissed off but wouldn’t dare kick the lads out. As this had nothing to do with me I was keeping quiet but as I was ordering pints the barmen had to walk by the two lads to drop the pint to me. When I got up to go to the jacks yer man PJ stopped me half way up the bar and said ‘Here if you want a pint again do you mind coming up here and ordering. I can’t walk by those two gobshites again. It looks bad to the customers.’ I didn’t obey him.
I also remember the time the bar man from Wexford with a bar through his ear threw a newspaper at Jugs when he slagged him for something knocking everyone’s glass over - and he couldn’t give a shit!![/quote]
Oh, there go the tears again.
I recall Celtic scoring twice in the last 4 minutes to come from behind to beat Gretna 2-1 last October and I was on my own leaping around in the middle section.
PJ strolled over and said, ‘Do you know what? You’re some fooking idiot.’
Then he walked off.
I wouldn’t shed any tears for that joint Bandage, it is a fine bar but they’ve always been rip off merchants in there, not surprised they’ve jacked up prices as they were caught profiteering during Ireland matches in the past. They’ve suffered alot since the IRFU move to Croker which I’m glad as that will soften their cough for a year or two anyway. Fcuk em.
We didn’t mind them robbing the rugby crowd as we hate rugby. And on rugby days when they used to up their prices, we were charged regular prices. What annoyed us was the fact they decided to up prices because of the foregone revenue they would have made from Landsdowne Road. Everyone’s feeling the pinch and they could have tried a few promotions or what not but they decided to fleece their regulars instead.
Remember that Ciaran bloke serving Jugs pints in every glass possible other than a pint glass? At one stage he had about 20 shot glasses out each with a drop of Heineken in them…
Where do you drink now Bandage (when you’re not swanning around the likes of Solas)? Beggar’s Bush?
Good boozer.
That’s fooking classic!