I’ve been hooked on Celtic music since I was a wee lad when my mother played an album by an obscure group called The Abbey Tavern Singers, in particular a hilarious song called The Orange and the Green – “Oh it is the biggest mix-up that you had ever seen, my father he was orange and me mother she was green!”
Fast forward to adult years and I learned that not only that the song was not some sort of strange Dr. Seuss tale come to life (rather a reference to the Protestant-Catholic divide in Ireland), but also that there’s no better place to hear it, and other traditional songs, than in an Irish pub, accompanied by a lively audience and perhaps a frothy Guinness and smooth Irish whisky or two.
Indeed, I even undertook a musical pilgrimage to the Emerald Isle in the mid-1980s on a quest to find and enjoy “trad” in its natural habitat, though the results were somewhat disappointing.
Since then the live music scene in Ireland has exploded and, on a recent visit to Dublin, I discovered dozens of pubs in the city declaring their musical intentions: Music Tonight!
So, which of the city’s 750-plus public houses to visit? An easily made friend in one establishment was adamant: Downstairs at The Stag’s Head had “the best music in town.”
His advice was spot on, and clearly no secret: The Dame Court (not to be confused with adjacent Dame Street or Dame Lane) pub was packed and the prospects of finding a seat as unlikely as the notion that anyone there was actually sober.
Nevertheless, the crowd was an integral part of the charm, not least because the four-piece band was crammed in a corner in customary fashion, cheek to jowl with patrons (literally, as the banjo player, himself positively pissed, continually abandoned his post to jump and take a whirl with passing girls).
The band – comprising guitar, fiddle, banjo and bodhran/drum – knocked out song after song that everyone seemed to know and never conceded a request, while the faithful sang, swayed and danced, and made new, intimate friends thanks to proximity and drink.
But there’s more to the Stag’s Head than its music melees on Friday and Saturday nights: There’s comedy Sunday-Tuesday and Ukelele Night after 8 on Tuesdays (BYOU), and three floors in total with signature “snug” that have been called “a veritable shrine to the art of drink.” The place is also renowned for its Irish Coffee made from a traditional recipe.
Dating to the 1700s (but rebuilt in 1895), the establishment boasts a lavish Victorian interior with stag-themed stained-glass windows, mirrors, wood panelling and a large stag’s head over the bar. It was a haunt of James Joyce and Michael Collins and more recently has starred in several films, including “Educating Rita.”
With such attributes, it’s not surprising that Ireland’s National Hospitality Awards named the Stag’s Head its Best Traditional Pub in Ireland for 2019.
Nor is the observation that “stumbling upon it” – concealed as it is through a doorway and along a passageway from Dame Street – is “akin to discovering a rare treasure.”
Sláinte!
Located at 1 Dame Ct., around the corner from Dublin Castle and a stone’s throw from the Temple Bar entertainment district, The Stag’s Head is open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
(“Pub Crawl” is an ongoing series in which we reveal some of our favourite public houses, both at home and abroad – and, in the spirit of the establishment, invite you to share with us yours. Send suggestions to baginski@travelindustrytoday.com. Cheers!)
Previous pubs:
THE MARQUIS OF GRANBY: Something for everyone in the fertile Garden of England
PUB CRAWL: The Caledonian a wee taste of Scotland in Toronto