The secret histories of Dublin’s pubs: ‘I’d see Con Houlihan here and there – especially in the early houses. He’d drink that bizarre combination of brandy and milk’

A social and cultural history of Dublin as seen through a pint glass, Donal Fallon’s new book delves into the stories behind 176 of the city’s finest watering holes. The historian takes John Meagher on a pub crawl around some of them…

Donal Fallon at The Palace. Photo: Ruth Medjber.

It is a sunny Sunday afternoon in the heart of Dublin, but dark clouds threaten rain. Ideal weather, some might say, for a pub crawl of some of the city’s great watering holes.

The historian Donal Fallon knows more than most about the capital’s original third spaces. He jokes that he has spent an inordinate amount of time in pubs like Grogan’s, The Lord Edward, and his namesake, Fallon’s, and he’s also written a book – The Dublin Pub – that is a veritable love letter to the institution.