Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Dublin

  • British Airways (Dublin to London City)

    British Airways (Dublin to London City)

    This was our flight back to London City Airport from Dublin Airport. It’s a decent terminal in Dublin and the boarding process at the gate was timely, albeit slightly clunky in terms of group boarding which seemed to be Group 1 and then everyone else, but the staff were friendly and helpful. The check-in staff did want to see my passport, which is the first time that I’ve been asked for it on this trip, as it was never needed at Heathrow. We were flying back to City Airport as our flight back to Heathrow was cancelled a few weeks ago, allowing me to change it free of charge to a different airport in the capital.

    The aircraft was G-LCYR, an Embraer E190 aircraft which is nine years old and has been with the airline since it was produced. This flight was serviced by BA CityFlyer, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways, but they do have different service standards.

    There are our two seats, both by the emergency exit giving us extra legroom.

    Liam, who I kindly gave the window seat to again.

    And me. Cabin crew were all personable, with the announcements made by them and the pilots being appropriate and useful.

    Boarding was well managed other than there were problems again with trying to fit all the bags on board. I write here regularly about the situation where people who bring a small bag are forced to put it by their feet, whereas those who bring their entire spare bedroom in a bag get to put it in the overhead lockers. It was a bit irrelevant for us as we had emergency exit row seats where bags have to go in the lockers, but it’s not an ideal arrangement. Where flights are nearly full, as this one was, there perhaps needs to be a change in emphasis now and maximum bag sizes could be brought down a little.

    This being a CityFlyer flight meant that we got free food and drink. The food options weren’t decadent (a small brownie, crisps or corn nuts), but it was perfectly acceptable for an hour long flight. The Brewdog beer was very handy, although given I’d had a Guinness in the airport lounge, I probably didn’t need it. But it was free and so I panicked and ordered it. I decided not to drink any more beer that day…… This is where service standards differ a little from regular British Airways short haul services, as the only free drink offered on those is water.

    And here we are back in London, all on time and without any issue. The delight of London City Airport is that it’s a short hop on the DLR back into Stratford, where Liam had parked his car, taking us no more than 25 minutes after landing to be back at the car. After Avios discounts and the like, this flight cost me about £20 (so, £40 return) which I think is excellent value for money and indeed so cheap I’m not sure that BA made any money on this little expedition of mine.

  • Dublin – Dublin Airport (T1 Lounge)

    Dublin – Dublin Airport (T1 Lounge)

    I’m still merrily writing up the trip that Liam and I made to Dublin two weeks ago, but that increases the anticipation for my three readers. Anyway, this is us arriving at Dublin Airport after being transported there via the Crowne Plaza shuttle bus.

    There’s only one lounge operational at the airport at the moment due to the reduced capacity and it’s oddly placed in the middle of the security area. Or, the entrance to it is at least. There were no issues with me guesting Liam in, so we then went upstairs to the lounge area after a wait in the queue of around three minutes.

    It’s a sizeable lounge, with some basic food options available such as cereals, yoghurts, olives and biscuits. The lounge is operating on reduced hours at the money, so closes in the early afternoon, so I suspect that this was the limit of the choice for the day. There was also a self-service hot drinks machine, although there was a more decadent coffee maker that staff could use for those customers with more precise needs.

    I went for a can of fizzy orange, olives and a mini carrot cake. We’d already had a really rather substantial breakfast at the Crowne Plaza about thirty minutes before, so this was already more than we needed.

    It was all relatively busy and there weren’t many free seats available across either of the two sections of the lounge. It was clean and tidy throughout, with staff members winding their way around the tables on a regular basis cleaning them quite thoroughly.

    The alcohol wasn’t self-service, so I asked at the counter if they had any small beers to calm my nerves before the flight. I accept that my nerves don’t need calming as I like flying, but it’s a handy excuse to myself. Anyway, the friendly lady behind the counter mentioned that they had Heineken or something equally pointless (my words, not hers) in small bottles, but they had pints of Guinness in cans. I’m not sure that I needed a pint of Guinness at 10.00 in the morning, but I panicked and said yes to that. Anyway, it was lovely and I was in Dublin. I noted that Liam didn’t order a Guinness, he’s a bit more moderate and sensible.

    There were announcements in the lounge when flights were departing, but I get stressed easily about potentially missing a flight, so I thought it would be a good idea to leave earlier than needed. The lounge was comfortable though with plenty of power points and suitable snacks and drinks, although I’m not sure that it’s worth the €20 per person for a maximum two hours which is the walk-up rate (and I think that’s discounted at the moment). I got access with British Airways, but it’s included in the Priority Pass and similar schemes as well.

  • Dublin – Brewdog

    Dublin – Brewdog

    Since I’m trying to visit every Brewdog that there is (one of many slightly pointless hobbies I’ve picked up), a couple of weekends ago we meandered down to the financial area in Dublin to visit this outlet which opened in late 2019.

    I’d say at the outset that this appears to be a troubled bar and it has slumped into nearly the lowest rated restaurant in Dublin on TripAdvisor. We were a bit time limited on our visit, partly due to my not realising just how far away this Brewdog is from the city centre, and there was a sign saying to wait at the entry desk to be seated. That’s in line with the rules in Dublin, but we waited for a few minutes and no-one was visible. Very conscious of time we went on in anyway and were then noticed by a team member who took us to a table.

    This is a very large venue, the ground floor has this brewing equipment, but there’s a similar size floor above with outside terraces on both levels. I’ve been reading reviews of how the venue often has no tables available, so they must be taking some serious money at weekends and other busy times during the year.

    The downstairs bar which we were seated near to, in what was pretty much an empty venue when we visited on a Friday lunch-time.

    The upstairs bar which was shut, other than for customers to use the toilets.

    The view from the terrace.

    The upstairs shuffleboards, a popular feature of many Brewdogs, but I still haven’t played.

    From our table, looking down the ground floor. It’s fair to say that the ordering process for drinks was muddled. The wrong beer menus were on the table and the pricing of the beers on the app was clearly wrong. I queried it with a team member, who didn’t have a clue what the situation was and he couldn’t tell me what the prices were meant to be, but he accepted that they were wrong. I ordered via the app to try and reduce the issues given the slightly chaotic situation, but we had fewer beers than we really wanted (well, I had fewer beers than I wanted to be more precise) due to the confusion.

    I went for two beers, this is the Quench Cake brewed by Brewdog, which was a decent fruit sour.

    And the Goodbye Blue Monday from Galway Bay Brewery. I probably wouldn’t have had this beer had I realised how many Galway Bay Brewery pubs we’d be going in during the rest of our stay in the city, but it was an agreeable IPA.

    The service was always polite, but a little muddled and duplicated. The wave of negative reviews are often about staffing, but many are about pricing, including a very angry person who paid €9 and got three chicken wings. That’s not ideal if true, Brewdog should be doing better than that. Pricing here is though going to be challenging, it’s the only Brewdog in the country and these already expensive craft beers have to be transported here and there are clearly huge overheads. But, there’s money aplenty in this area, there’s a JP Morgan office next door and they even have their own table number on the app. Money talks….

    I can’t say that I was overly impressed by this Brewdog, it felt formulaic and designed to make money rather than prioritise customer care. Obviously their priority is profits, but it all felt a bit overly decadent and style over substance here. The beer list was though well curated and there were a range of beer styles, with the beers we had being of a decent quality. The bar gave up a year ago responding to reviews, probably not an ideal sign and I guess they are just trying to avoid the now mostly negative comments that are being made. Although some of the replies aren’t really very illuminating, the reply to queries about high pricing was:

    “It is true that our beers can cost more than those from more commercial breweries, but that’s because everything we serve is craft”.

    That lack of explanation of craft is a little disappointing without any further details. Anyway, I digress. The bar is named Dublin Outpost, which leads me to suspect that the company might be planning to open another venue in the city centre at some point. So, everything was fine and it’s great to see craft beer of this quality being made available in Dublin, but given the money being taken here it really shouldn’t be bottom of restaurants in Dublin on TripAdvisor, that’s far from ideal.

  • Dublin – Black Sheep

    Dublin – Black Sheep

    This was another in the series of Galway Bay Brewery pubs that Liam and I visited in Dublin last weekend, just a short walk away from the Paddle and Peel. As noted in my other posts, anyone wanting craft beer in Dublin is unlikely to go too far wrong by looking out for pubs operated by this brewery.

    As with the other pubs, it was possible to either look at the menu on-line or on the blackboard by the bar.

    I think the staff member seemed a little disappointed when we mentioned that we weren’t ordering food, although she still showed us to a suitable table in the heart of the pub rather than something out of the way. It was a Saturday afternoon and wasn’t yet very busy in the pub, although I saw a few food orders being taken out. I thought that the pub had a traditional and community feel to it, with the craft beer adding an on-trend element.

    The floral display…… A pub has to know that it doesn’t have a rough clientele, as this sort of foliage isn’t really something suitable for a venue where the locals take to throwing things about the place.

    I went for the Stag Stout from 9 White Deer Brewery and that was a really decent beer, as well as the Weights + Measures from Galway Bay Brewery. Reasonably priced, I was pleased with the quality of both of these, although conscious that I had worked through nearly the entirely beer menu in all the city’s Galway Bay Brewery pubs.

    The pub is generally very well-reviewed on-line, although I liked the:

    “Ordered the Penne Arrabiata with meatballs, bad idea. Sauce was lukewarm/cold, meatballs were dry, tough and also cold, dish covered in toasted grass?? Which was hugely unpleasant.”

    I’m intrigued by the toasted grass and slightly disappointed that the customer didn’t upload their photo.

    There’s still table service at pubs in Dublin (or was when we were there) and the staff member was helpful and knowledgeable about the beer options. The food looked tempting, but we’d had pizza in the pub before, so another meal seemed unnecessarily decadent. As a pub, I liked this one and it’s just a short walk from O’Connell Street.

  • Dublin – Silver Penny (Wetherspoons in the European Union)

    Dublin – Silver Penny (Wetherspoons in the European Union)

    Although I’ve been in a JD Wetherspoon operated outlet in Belfast, I’ve never visited one in the Republic of Ireland or in the European Union (not that they have any other than in Ireland). This is a relatively new opening (July 2019) which is located just off of O’Connell Street and a few minutes from our hotel. Given that it was getting late by the time we arrived at the hotel, this seemed like the most convenient to start the weekend off with.

    I’ll just pinch the pub’s own history as to why it has its name:

    “Irish coinage can be traced back over a thousand years to around AD995. These early ‘hammered’ coins were made from silver by striking a coin blank between two hand-cut dies. The silver pennies were produced for the Scandinavian King of Dublin, Sigtrygg II, also known as Sigtrygg Silkbeard. The silver pennies bore the king’s head and name, along with the word ‘Dyflin’ for Dublin.”

    There was a short queue to get in and it enabled us to work out what the current situation is with regards to pubs in the country. In short, they need to see evidence of the NHS PDF download showing that we’d had both vaccines, as well as identification to show that we were the people listed on the download. Liam, who had forgotten his mask, was provided with one by the pub, before we were then walked over to our table. A perfectly efficient little operation, although I think these rules are all being swept away next week.

    These photos don’t really capture the building very well, but they’re the best that I have and so they’ll have to do. JD Wetherspoon have converted two buildings and joined them together to open this pub, one half is a former church and the other half is a former bank.

    Liam in the main bar area. The pub is only taking orders via the app at the moment, with the pricing being broadly in line with London prices for food and drink. I was surprised just how little localisation has taken place for the Irish market though, it’s nearly exactly the same menu. The relatively low prices for Dublin did though appear to be popular with locals and visitors, so I can see why JD Wetherspoon are investing so much money in the country.

    Wetherspoons don’t sell Guinness in Dublin, but they do sell Beamish and I’m just as content at that. Our drinks arrived after around ten minutes and then there was quite a lot of nothing going on in terms of staff bringing food out.

    After forty minutes I thought that I’d meander over to the bar and in my very politest way ask if there was a delay on food, pretending I hadn’t seen the app estimate that food orders were taking under ten minutes. It was quickly concluded by the manager that there was no delay and our order had been lost somewhere. In all fairness, a replacement was delivered to the table promptly and the manager came over and got us a free pint each as this. I’m easily pleased, and very much liked this gesture. The chicken wrap with chips was more generously filled than it usually is in the UK, although I’m not intending to count the chips as in the now infamous Facebook group that is Wetherspoons Paltry Chip Count….

    All told, I thought that this was a decent transformation into a pub, with the staff always being helpful. The losing the food wasn’t entirely ideal, but they were friendly in resolving the situation. I suspect that JD Wetherspoon will be successful in Dublin, if nothing else just because of their low pricing.

  • Dublin – Famine Memorial

    Dublin – Famine Memorial

    Mostly photos again in this post, from when Liam and I were in Dublin last weekend. This is the Famine Memorial which commemorates the Great Famine which took place in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. The famine, caused by potato blight, saw over one million people lose their lives and over two million people leaving the country. The country’s population is still lower than it was in 1845, a long-lasting legacy of the serious effects of the famine.

    These eye-catching sculptures have been in the Docklands area of the city since 1997 and were designed by Rowan Gillespie, an Irish sculptor. There are six life-size figures as part of the memorial and and there are some information boards nearby about the famine. Their formal name is the Famine Memorial, often just called the Famine, and similar figures were placed in Toronto in 2007.

  • Dublin – Paddle and Peel

    Dublin – Paddle and Peel

    We had enjoyed the drinks offering at the Galway Bay Brewery operated Against the Grain on Friday evening, so our plan for Saturday’s meal was to book a table at the Paddle and Peel, which the company also runs. There was the danger that it might be necessary to actually phone the pub or speak to them, so I decided Liam would be best at doing that.

    We arrived to a fairly empty pub, although it was Saturday afternoon and I imagine things hadn’t quite started to warm up yet. The pub had an on-trend feel to it, all modern and comfortable.

    There was an additional seating area to the rear of the pub, which was previously the Beer House before the Galway Bay Brewery took it over. It seems from looking at older photos that it has been relatively extensively modernised, although the downstairs toilets appear to have been excluded from that work.

    Always good to see a chalkboard as it’s a sign of a regularly changing beer list, but the beers were also easy to find on the pub’s web-site and there were QR codes on the table to access it on-line. There’s a lack of guest beers there though, the selection felt more what I’d expect to find in a brewery’s tap room than in a pub such as this.

    I had tried the brewery’s darker options the night before, so this time went for three lighter beers, which are from left to right the Full Sail, the Althea and the Bay Ale, all from Galway Bay Brewery. The Althea was perhaps the best here with a depth of flavour from the variety of hops used, with the Bay Ale being perhaps slightly past its best.

    The Diavola pizza, with a huge heap of green stuff dumped on top. I initially wasn’t delighted as the cheese was a bit,well, cheesy, and I would have preferred mozzarella. However, after grumbling about it briefly to Liam, I decided that I liked it and promptly got through it quickly enough.

    Anyway, the prices were reasonable, the pub was clean and I liked the food and drink. There was perhaps nothing exceptional and I would have liked to see more guest beers from other breweries on the menu, but this was still a decent pub and worth visiting. The service was always friendly and this was another one of those pubs that I thought it would be easy to linger in for a few hours, but we had more to explore in the day. Next on the list was the Black Sheep, also operated by the same brewery and just a two-minute walk away.

  • Dublin – Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport

    Dublin – Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport

    Our plan for our final night in Dublin was to stay at the Holiday Inn Express near to the airport, which I booked a few days before. I then had a slight suspicion that the hotel was shut, something which transpired to be the case when I e-mailed the hotel to confirm. However, they had a plan and it was a plan that I thought was a first rate one (indeed, a cunning plan), namely that they’d just transfer our booking to the Crowne Plaza hotel next door. This is a far better hotel in the IHG hierarchy and they pledged to match the rate. The hotels are owned by the same operator, so it likely made sense to get as many bookings as possible and just put them in the better of the two locations.

    It took us about one hour and forty minutes to get to the hotel from the city centre, not including the meal at McDonald’s en route. We decided to walk the five or so miles as the bus situation was just all too complex.

    The check-in process was all efficient and well managed, with the staff member mentioning that we’d get free breakfast, something which I had suspected wouldn’t be offered as it isn’t usually in the room rate. However, without my needing to argue, the hotel had honoured the free inclusive breakfast that was offered by Holiday Inn Express, so all was well.

    The entrance to our floor from the lifts, all very decadent.

    Modern and comfortable, the bathroom also had a separate shower and bath, which isn’t a usual set-up. The room was also spotlessly clean and I could find nothing to complain about (not that I was particularly looking for things to be grumpy about). There were bottles of sparkling and still water available, and Liam cracked open the lemonade he had been traipsing about all weekend (I have no idea why he had been saving that as if it was a fine craft beer).

    I always like a hotel that has my name on the television screen. I accept that I need to get out more though….. The hotel was also deadly quiet which is really quite lovely before a flight, with no internal or external noise. There was also air conditioning which was effective at keeping the room cool, with the windows opening as well so that it didn’t feel too sterile.

    The breakfast room in the morning, all quite grand. For those used to luxury hotels, such as my friend Richard, this is nothing special, but it’s a considerable improvement to what I usually have…..

    The breakfast options, the hot food on the right and the cold options at the back and on the left. There were plenty of hot food options, with the bacon being suitably crispy which is ideal for me. There was a chef behind the counter as well if any guest wanted an omelette or something.

    The cold meats and cheeses, always my favourite section of a breakfast set-up.

    I’ve never seen honey like this at a breakfast buffet, which is more testament to my predilection for budget hotels I think….

    There is much more choice than in the Holiday Inn Express that we had booked, so I felt that this was a very handy little upgrade.

    The breakfast I went for, with the presence of one of my favourites, white pudding. The only slight issue here is that the tables were quite cluttered, but that was mainly because I kept getting more plates and drinks.

    The photo doesn’t really show, but the muffins are also somewhat better than I’m used to. I’m easily pleased.

    The reviews for the hotel are pretty good, although not as high as I would have expected. This is part of one of my favourite reviews:

    “So in the space of 24 hours two security guards and and a cleaner were in the room without notice. We spent the rest of our stay waiting for the alarm to go off again or Basil Fawlty to come in to check the walls.”

    Some reviews complain of grumpy and indifferent staff, but I thought that the service was friendly and engaging throughout.

    Fortunately, as we didn’t fancy a forty minute walk to the airport in the morning before our flight, there was a free hotel shuttle service operated by the hotel. I had worried, as I am wont to do, that it would be full, until seeing that the hotel owns a coach rather than a minibus. The service goes nearly every half hour, from as early as three in the morning.

    And here we are on board, ready for the ten-minute shuttle trip back to Dublin Airport, marking the end of a really rather lovely weekend break.

    As a hotel stay, this was a marvellous way to end the trip and I consider that we were very fortunate to be switched from Holiday Inn Express to Crowne Plaza. Absolutely no problems, and I’d happily stay here again if the opportunity arose.

  • Dublin – JW Sweetman Pub

    Dublin – JW Sweetman Pub

    This pub by the River Liffey takes its name from John William Sweetman, a brewer who started his beer production in the city in 1756. By the 1820s, his brewery was producing nearly as much as Guinness, although it’s fair to say that the latter have now taken something of a lead. There’s a micro-brewery in the pub today, so the tradition continues in at least some form.

    We arrived at the pub without a reservation, something which was slightly aspirational as it was a Friday night and it was busy throughout Dublin. We had a wait of a few minutes, but a friendly staff member came over to help us, although she wasn’t sure if there was any seating available. She returned promptly, but she seemed a little nervous at the table that she found us as this was on the first floor and underneath the television. This didn’t sound ideal at first, but it was a perfectly decent place to sit with plenty of space and it wasn’t that near to the television which was showing some random sport.

    We passed this on the way up….. This is very Dublin.

    Our seating area had an excellent view of the upstairs bar. Most of the customers in the pub seemed to be dining and the menu did look to be quite interesting, with numerous beer pairings with the food. If it wasn’t for my wanting to visit other pubs in the city, I’d have been quite content to spend the entire evening here, it was all quite convivial.

    I had hoped to try one of the brewery’s two stouts, the Dublin Porter and the Irish Dry Stout, but they were both unavailable.

    Instead I went for the brewery’s Irish red ale and the West Coast pale ale, which were both perfectly acceptable beers that I’d order again. Both reasonably priced and I realised how much Dublin bars and pubs like to use beer mats on tables, something that seems much rarer now in English pubs.

    The reviews of the pub are nearly all positive, although I like replies such as:

    “However, after speaking to our staff in detail, some other aspects about the situation came to light & we feel that it was handled correctly on the day.”

    As I’m sure that there’s an awesome story there about some ridiculous customer behaviour….

    “Sadly I’ve always wanted to visit Ireland and my first pub experience I encountered the rude bar staff who refused to make me a black velvet. Not only refused, but chastised me for putting cider with the sacred Guinness, forcing me to make my own drink…”

    Good, I wouldn’t have made one either. Customers can make their own ridiculous cocktails…..

    “I went up to order a drink and asked the barman if they had the new Amstel Radler yet … he responded by telling me that they would never be getting any gimmicky drinks like that in stock and went on to brag about how their beers were made.”

    Well, the barman has a point….

    “It was €8 here for a bottle of gluten-free Peroni. To give some context, they’re four for €10 in supermarkets”

    It’s almost like supermarkets are cheaper than pubs…

    I have no idea though what the pub did to annoy this customer:

    “As disappointing as gout”.

    In a couple of weeks, this pub will have a different feel on a weekend evening when the table service rules are lifted. They’ll be able to get more people in at the bar which will make it easier to get into venues, but I have to say that I’m pleased that we visited when we did. Friendly service, a clean environment and a relaxed atmosphere, all really rather lovely.

  • Dublin – The Spire of Dublin

    Dublin – The Spire of Dublin

    Located near to our hotel (as in where Liam and I were staying, I haven’t bought a hotel in the Republic of Ireland) on O’Connell Street is the Spire of Dublin, constructed here between 2002 and 2003. It’s certainly a noticeable structure in the city, replacing Nelson’s Pillar which was located here between 1809 and 1966, when it was blown up by the IRA. It would have been challenging to have had such a sign of British imperial rule in the heart of Dublin, but it is a little sad that the stone structure was destroyed in the way that it was. At least there is something here now, as the space was pretty much left empty after the Irish Army removed the remains in 1966.

    Up close… There is some sort of design going on in the lower part of the structure, but it’s not particularly creative and there’s no way of going up the spire internally, so it is a little pointless (although perhaps not literally….). It has attracted numerous nicknames, including the Spire in the Mire, as well as some rather less polite names.

    The observant might be able to see the spire in this photo….. I have no idea why the city has decided not to better illuminate this iconic structure, that does seem like an omission to me. Nonetheless, I do still like it, although I’m not sure how well it fits into the Dublin skyline and how relevant it is to nearby buildings, not least the General Post Office which has such an important history.