Courting The Dame

The Moira Hotel, 15 Trinity Street & 1&2 Dame Lane Today as you turn the corner from Trinity Street onto Dame Lane opposite the Bankers Pub you will find two great businesses, The Pichet Restaurant, a modern Irish restaurant with a French twist opened for over a decade and one of the few remaining Dry Cleaners in this modern city Excel Dry Cleaning. But they were not always there and in days of old one of Dublin’s most famous hotels was located there, The Moira. This is its story. Sean O’Casey dined here and James Joyce featured it in Chapter 6 of his renowned book Ulysess but its history stretches way back into the 1700’s when a hotel opened first here as the Ulster Hotel later to become known as the St. George Hotel.   By the mid-19 th century the hotel was purchased by the Crosbie family who originally owned the name the Moira Hotel when it was located on Sackville Street, now O’Connell Street dating back to 1754. In 1890 owner was Miss B Kelly r...

I recently wrote about The Bankers pub on the corner of Trinity Street and Dame Lane and some readers have asked me about the Kinahan Distillery and its Whiskey. Daniel Kinahan was born in the Dublin suburb, then the countryside of Goatstown in 1756. He would create one of the early global successes of Irish business ‘Kinahan’s Whiskey’ and in particular ‘Kinahan’s LL Whiskey’. The Kinahan story begins in 1779 on Trinity Street where today the Bankers public house now stands. He opened his business originally known as ‘Kinahan and Gregg’ and quickly expanded when they purchased the entire stock of wines and spirits from Messers Beatty on Andrew Street. As a grocer he took full advantage of the nearby Sugar House on Dame Court and began to distil whiskey and port. It was an instant success and became a favourite of the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, the Royal representative in Ireland. By 1807 Charles Lennox, the then Lord Lieutenant was so impressed with their whiskey that L.L. (Lo...

Connecting No 4 Georges Street with Dame Court is the beautifully appointed and busy public house J T Pim's. Today you will find some of the finest dressed ladies of Dublin in Pim's but forty years ago it was a similarly named business that dressed the ladies of Dublin with the finest garments. The pub gets its name from a large department store that once occupied a large swathe of Georges Street. No 4 Georges Street itself was at one time a travel agents and then a restaurant. In the 19th century you could have added a little sweetness to your life as a confectioner occupied the building. The building that now houses the Dame Court entry was once Phillip Cooney's shop in the late 19th century. Pim's is well worth a visit and its history is rich and varied and why not enjoy a pint and soak up the atmosphere of by gone days in a modern setting.

The Area in the late 1800's (c) OSI  Welcome to Courting The Dame blog where we will endeavor to uncover the history and stories of Dame Lane and Dame Court. These two small lanes house a eclectic array of businesses and they run parallel to Dame Street and Exchequer Street. Dame Lane connects through Georges Street to the gates of the 12th Century built Dublin Castle. Dame Street itself runs from the front entrance of Trinity College up to the rising ground of Cork Hill and Dames Gate, or the Eastern Gate of Dublin Castle and the ancient walls of the city. Dame Street took its name from a church erected near it, inside the city walls called the Church of St. Mary Les Dames and therefore Dame Lane and Dame Court were named similarly. The area had been redeveloped by the Wide Streets Commission, who had been tasked in 1757 by an Act of Parliament to bring order to the chaotic streets of Dublin. Patrick Sweetman’s Sugar House was demolished, and new housing put in place includi...