The Stag's Head

Words by Simon Difford

Address: 1 Dame Court, (off Dame Street), Dublin, County Dublin, 2, Ireland (Eire)
Tel: +353 (0)1 679 3687
Website: view The Stag's Head’s website
Door: Open door
Style: Pub (traditional British pub)
Food: Tapas/plates & dishes
Established: 1894

Review

Skilled Victorian craftsman made this a spectacular pub and it is quite possibly Dublin's best preserved Victorian pub. Carved mahogany covers the walls, dividing panels and even the ceiling. Original mosaic marble floors, granite tables, ornate stained glass and cut glass lamps with the Stag's Head seemingly embossed, or carved on every surface.

A tavern has stood on this site since the 1780s but the present incarnation dates from 1894 when George Tysen, owner of a successful menswear business took over the premises and commissioned leading architect J.M. McGloughlin to build Dublin's most distinctive and advanced pub. It was the first to have electric lights. Tysen's name can still be seen on the large clock outside the building.

Don't miss the little parlour hidden behind the far end of the long red Connemara marble topped bar counter. On the wall there is a clipping from The Daily Express on the day the pub opened on 2nd October 1895.

The drinks may be of a fairly standard pub offering but they taste all the more satisfying in such spectacular surroundings.