Recently, when I was invited along to a family get-together, I was told that it was going to be in the Gasworks. At first I thought I knew where it was but then I was told it was in the former Kitty O’Shea’s on Grand Canal Street.

When I got to it and found a new hotel facing the old meat company works, it occurred to me that I never knew this pub as anything other than Ned Smith’s. Many years ago, when I was in my teens, I used to up there for a few pints– it was a small, but very homely little pub then with a great, friendly clientele and Ned Smith was a gentleman.

In those days, before the pubs started serving food, all you could get in this bar was cheese and cream crackers. On Sunday nights, the upstairs lounge was opened and I can never remember it being opened on any other days. It got me thinking there must be very few old-style Dublin pubs like Smith’s left these days.

The Beggar’s Bush was another one of these little pubs that I used to go to. The Ryan family, who still own the place, were great publicans; it was another tiny pub that made up for lack of space and amenities with great company. We would often go up on Sundays or, when I was home on leave from the merchant navy, on week days for a few beers and a few games of darts or dominoes, or sit having a chat with the other punters. There were always great characters in there, the craic was mighty, I can assure you.

Ryan’s was redeveloped some years back and it is now a fine, spacious modern bar, but the same crowd still go there and it is still a fine place to go for an evening out. I’m glad to see they still have the dart board in the bar and card games most nights.

The atmosphere there is the same as it was in the old days when my late dad used to go there and some of my own family still go there on a regular basis.

To my eyes, the pub scene has changed vastly in this area, in particular in the last few years. I gave up drink in the 1980s and left it all behind me.

But way back then, I was a daily drinker in Clarke’s, Gleeson’s and the Irishtown House to name a few. Clarke’s in particular was always jam-packed, especially at lunchtime when you had a big crowd from the coal distributors and from the docks. Then you had the Bottle House crowd who always were there either going in to work or finishing their shift.

Nowadays, with the CDL and the Bottle House both gone and the docks changed forever, the pubs have had to change too. What pubs that have survived have had to adapt, bringing in food and live music. Lots of pubs I knew and loved did not survive: Fitzharris in Ringsend and Seapoint House are two that spring to mind. I suppose other things have contributed to the changing pub culture too– harsher drink driving laws (no bad thing) and the smoking ban have had their effects as well. Still, I miss the old-style pubs we had back then, and the happy times I had in them.

Above: The Beggar’s Bush today and, below, in 1989.