Pub

CROSS GUNS BRIDGE

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I assume that most people have forgotten the online advertising, discussed below, that insulted Northsiders.

Prominently located at Crossguns Bridge, this unusual building was erected about 1930 as a garage, but served as the headquarters of Ireland’s first commercial airline, Iona Airways, which operated between 1931 and 1995. The enterprise was started here by the entrepreneur, Hugh Cahill, who initially had a motor company. Aircraft were serviced here, although the aerodrome was located three miles (5km) away at Kildonan House. The building was converted to a public house in 2004 and although it has undergone substantial changes with its new use, including replacement of the original banded render with glazed tiles, it retains its original form and massing, and linear detailing typical of its period. It is of interest as early infrastructure associated with air travel in Ireland.

Older Dubliners will remember the Iona Garage murder which occurred Friday, 7th April 1961. I was eleven years old at the time and passed the garage twice every day on my way to and from school so I remember the incident but never really knew the details.

I am impressed that the owners managed to relocate a “landmark pub” from South Richmond Street on the Southside to Cross Guns Bridge on the Northside and I actually met two people who claimed that it has always been located at its current location.

There was a big fuss when the management of the Bernard Shaw pub on Dublin’s Richmond Street announced it will close “for good” at the end of October.

One journalist described the closure as cultural desecration, not far off the theft of the Elgin Marbles.

I visited the Bernard Shaw on South Richmond Street on the day it ceased and a number of people told me that it was a disgrace that old traditional Dublin was disappearing. Having lived in the area for many years I mentioned that the Bernard Shaw only opened about thirteen years ago and that many locals had objected to the planning permission because of expected noise pollution and there was plenty of that for many years.

Note: The company behind the Bernard Shaw, formerly operating in Portobello, posted a picture on its Instagram site to mark its opening in new premises showing five hooded youths in tracksuit bottoms, one carrying a machete, another a baseball bat and one giving the fingers. It was captioned: “Northsiders before the Bernard Shaw moved.”

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