Situated on a back street in the city centre, it is a quintessential Dublin family house, although run by men from provincial Ireland since its establishment, the present generation of management are ‘True Dubs’.
The gaslight fittings of another age remain but today’s cosmopolitan clientele can buy a box of snuff from the bar or relish the most sophisticated cocktail.

The walls boast showbills from the famous neighbouring Theatre Royal going back to the 19th Century and visitors regularly call to see the ornate ceiling with its magnificent cornices in the back room. In the heyday of the Theatre Royal many stars of stage and screen took their breaks in Mulligans. Stars like Gracie Fields, Slim Whitman, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole and Roy Rogers, as well as local heroes such as Jimmy Campbell, Jimmy O’Dea, Peggy Dell, Joseph Locke and Noel Purcell as figure in this pubs rich folklore.

Mulligans is a house that has managed to capture the flavours of Dublin from one era to another without losing its essential identity. Mulligans has always been associated with James Joyce, who certainly made notes, if he didn’t actually write portions of his groundbreaking works at the same counter as is there today while having his tipple of Guinness, usually on his own. While he, apparently, rarely joined in the sparkling conversation of the day in the famed bar, some Joycean scholars claim he had his ear tuned to proceedings around him to enable him to reproduce superb dialogue in his later works.

Mulligans has been a true source of all that is best in the beautiful city and has enticed many visitors from all walks of life over the years. From President JF Kennedy to The Tanaiste, Dock workers to the Racing Fraternity, not to mention the best of Irish Literary and Theatre personalities, each has found a warm welcome here.

On the way oout, don’t miss the legend on the street wall, to the left of the Lounge door: Do chum Gloire De agus Onior na hEireann – For the Glory of God and the Honour of Ireland.

The above text provided and reproduced with kind permission by Micheal Cronin.