The Long Hall Pub, Dublin
These days you can simply buy an Irish pub. Since the nineties it has been sold like a fitted kitchen out of a catalogue: a company designs the interior, ships the dark wood, the brass and the weathered signs, and then puts the finished Irish pub together anywhere in the world - in Italy alone, fifty-eight of them went up within six months of the 1990 World Cup.
The Long Hall is the exact opposite: a genuine Victorian pub on South Great George's Street, one of the oldest in Dublin, with a licence to sell drink recorded at that same address since 1766.
Where the Name Comes From and Who Drank Here
A long hall: the pub is narrow and drawn out, so the name clearly describes the shape of the room. That is what most guidebooks say. Dublin pub archaeology, however, has a better explanation: the name probably belongs not to the bar itself, but to the long narrow corridor running along the back of it, where until 1951 women were served separately from the main room. The pub, in other words, is most likely named after the corridor at its own back. In fairness I should add that this version rests on pub lore rather than any archival record - but unlike the "long hall", it at least comes with a story.
Mahogany, Mirrors and the Scramble for the Oldest Pub Title
The pub owes the look it has today to its owner Patrick Dolan, who rebuilt it in 1881. He went for grand Victorian taste: a mahogany bar, hand carving, cut glass and mirrors - convex and concave alike, to make the narrow space look wider. The interior has barely changed since, so you drink in a room that is an exhibit in its own right - a bit like my grandmother's cabinet of cut glass that no child was ever allowed to touch, except this one you can touch, pint and all. Even so, the Long Hall cannot claim the title of the city's oldest pub: Dublin is full of contenders and the Brazen Head has it beaten on the age of the building alone; a few equally well-preserved Victorian pubs survive in the rest of Ireland and in Great Britain, too. One claim to fame does belong to the Long Hall alone, though: in the eighties Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy shot footage for the Old Town video right at this bar.
Guinness in Two Pours, Whiskey with a Drop of Water
People come here mainly for Guinness, which the Long Hall has a name for pouring properly, and for Irish whiskey - the range runs from the everyday Jameson to limited editions. Both drinks come with a lesson in patience. Guinness is poured in two goes: the barman fills most of the pint, lets the nitrogen head settle and only then tops it up - fidget at the bar while it settles and you have given yourself away as a tourist before your first sip. And whiskey takes a drop of water. The explanation is soberly chemical: water lowers the alcohol at the surface and releases the aromatic compounds, so the whiskey, as they say here, "opens up".
An Afternoon Across from the Bar
I got to the Long Hall in the afternoon, when even the stool right across from the bar was free and the staff had time to talk. Over my pint of Guinness I asked them to recommend an Irish whiskey, and it came with a practical lesson: the barman showed me how to drop a little water into the glass to open the whiskey up - and open up it did: the spirit stepped back and the aromas got room to breathe. Beautiful rooms, attentive and quick service, prices about average for Dublin. Whether the pub fills to the last seat in the evening I can only guess - by then I was already listening to live music at the Cobblestone.
The Long Hall
