Jack Nealons

History
Background

This famous Dublin street, which was named in honour of Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, was in the 18th century the main access route to the old city centre around Dublin Castle. Prior to this, Capel Street was part of the gigantic Sir Humphrey Jervis Estate and was laid out primarily as an aristocratic and ascendancy residential zone of large mansions complete with gardens and courtyards.

It was during the 19th century that Capel Street took on its current

commercial appearance when shopfronts simply replaced front doors. But,

most importantly, Esssex Bridge was the most easterly bridge on the Liffey

and the gateway to Parliament Street and the south city. Location has

always been central to the economic evolution of Dublin and Capel Street

set the standard in this regard because of its proximity to City Hall and

Dublin Castle.

Through the centuries, Capel Street has enjoyed a prodigous association

with Dublin’s social world through its inns, clubs, ale houses and taverns.

And in ages past casks of wine and spirits were transported to Capel Street

primarily by barge along the River Liffey.

The Arrival of the Green Family 1815

By the dawn of the 19th century new shopfronts were sprouting up along

the street and in 1815 this house, then nos. 161-162, opened its doors to

the Dublin public as a grocery store. The proprietor was respected business

and family man, Timothy Green, who had previously traded off Grafton

Street. Grocers were allowed to sell spirits in an off-sales capacity in those

days but many grocers were in fact flouting the law by erecting screens

within their premises and allowing the public to consume spirits hiddenbehind those screens. This practice caused consternation and bitter fueds

to develop between publicans and grocers and also with the authorities,

both in Dublin and Westminster. This practice of ‘dram drinking’ as it was

known was described in a House of Commons Public Inquiry by publican

Charles Kennedy as follows, ‘the evils of dram drinking amounted to public

disorder, crime and domestic strife.’ Daniel O’ Connell, the Liberator, who

himself owned both a distillery and a brewery, countered by stating, ‘all

these issues and that of debauchery emanated from Public Houses and not

Grocers’ Shops.’

Timothy Green Threads a Middle Ground

But while proprietor Timothy Green was happy to legitimately dispense

spirits and wines, his main tenet of business was in supplying grocery

provisions to the remaining mansions of Capel Street and their equivalents

on the other side of Essex Bridge. Timothy was therefore a respected man

in the community who avoided the pitfalls of his fellow spirit grocers.

By 1825 Timothy Green had passed the family busines to his son Patrick,

who had worked by his side through the decades. By 1827 nos. 161-162

Capel Street was trading as a wine and spirit grocery store but also as a

licensed premises to dispense liquor on the premises. At this stage, the

modern commercial shape of Capel Street was beginning to emerge but the

provisions market remained the Green family’s most profitable source of

income.

The Third Generation Takes the Reins in a Changing Dublin

By the 1840s, Timothy Green, son of Patrick and grandson of Timothy Snr.,

was manning the pumps and dispensing cases of Claret and Burgundy to his

aflluent customer base. The winds of change were now blowing loudly in

Dublin as the old world was rapidly giving way to the new. The age of

locomation and the railways had arrived and Capel Street and its environs

were huge beneficiaries. Kingsbridge (Heuston) Station was launched to a

fanfare of acclaim in August 1846 as the terminus of the Great Southern

and Western Railways. Despite the raging famine in rural Irleland, the

railways trigged an economic boom within the capital in the years that

followed. This was now the era of modern travel, necessitating a huge

demand for lodgings, food, beverages and consumer goods about the citycentre. All of this was music to the ears of Timothy Green, who travelled to

and fro each day from his well-to-do residence at Greenmount, Clonsilla,

only to see his wine and spirits business prosper further.

Margaret Green To John O’ Connor 1867

Timothy Green passed away in 1865, fifty years after his family had taken

occupancy of this premises courtesy of a lease from the Headfort Estate.

The premises was now in the hands of his widow Margaret Green, who had

little experience of running a busy day-to-day business. However, Margaret

held on here for two years before selling to businessman and publican,

John O’Connor.

John O’Connor and His Master Plan

John O’ Connor was a very untypical Dublin publican of this era in the sense

that he was a born visionary, a man who was fearless and unrelenting in his

passion to think big and bold irrespective of the cost involved. His first

major decision on taking possession of this prime location in 1867 was to

engage the services of leading architect, Charles Geoghegan, and

commission a total reconstruction of 165-166 Capel Street. The new edifice

– which you see before you today – was a masterpiece of construction and

period design attaining acclaim in the architectural annals of Ireland. The

records state, ‘ this building, erected in 1867 by Charles Geoghegan for the

wine and spirit merchant John O’Connor, forms an important element in the

built heritage of Dublin. The upper floors are enlivened by colourful ceramic

details while the well-executed carving and moulding to the shopfront add

further aesthetic interest.’

John O’Connor Expands Further

On completion of this magnificent creation John O’ Connor had the world

at this feet. Each day he travelled by train to Westland Row from his home

in Gresham Terrace, Kingstown. And within months of completing the

reconstruction, John O’Connor’s annual R.V. (rateable valuation) had

trebled from 40 guineas to 120 guineas. But O’ Connor was moving ahead

rapidly, unrelenting in his ambition of becoming the largest spirit and wine

wholesaler in Dublin’s north city. To achieve this goal and also provide an

unrivalled retail pub trade, he bought up properties nos. 19, 20 and 22Little Strand Street. Simultaneously, he ran a thriving pubtrade at nos. 27-

28 Winetavern Street.

Collapse of the O’Connor Dream

It appears that John O’ Connor financially bit off more than he could chew

for by 1874 his empire had collapsed. He sold off his three properties in

Little Strand Street to pay his debts and this premises passed to publican

Michael Moore.

Musical Chairs

Michael Moore took up occupancy here in 1874 just as the former Essex

Bridge had been widened, remodelled and renamed in honour of Henry

Grattan, former leader of the old Irish Parliament on College Green. But

Moore’s tenure here was of short duration for the premises changed hands

three times within five years, firstly to James Vincent White in 1877, who

was replaced two years later in 1879 by Patrick Rourke, Wine & Spirit

Merchant.

The Return of John O’Connor

By 1884 the great entrepreneur, John O’Connor, had returned with his

passion and drive undiminished. In the intervening years, O’ Connor’s life

was no less colourful for he was deeply involved in licensed trade politics,

frequently travelling to Westminster to lobby for licensed trade reforms

and appearing before various licensing committees and enquiries. He was

also an active participant in national politics with a high profile within local

government as a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.

O’ Connor to W.J. Mitchell

John O’ Connor passed away in 1891, the same year as his great political

hero, Charles Stewart Parnell. The new man behind the pumps here in

Capel Street was William J. Mitchell, a member of a family with a

distinguished history of grocery on Sandymount Green. During these years

the interior of the pub was laid out in the manner of a Victorian pub

grocery with two separate entrances, one for alcohol consumption and the

other for the Victorian ladies to buy groceries, especially tea. In those years

the Victorian citizenry bought the majority of their grocery needs from

provisions stores (former day supermarkets) but they invariably boughttheir teas from Victorian pubs. The Victorian pubs stored their teas in lead

lined bins which they made from the off-cuts of the mahogany used on

their counters and backbars. In stark contrast, the tea in provisions stores

was held in thin plywood tea chests, which deteriorated in quality in cold

and damp climatic conditions.

William J. Mitchell’s occupancy of this house was a successful one for he

effortlessly blended the two great components of the late Victorian age,

grocery and drink sales while continuing to retail quantities of wines and

spirits.

W. J. Mitchell to Joseph P. Reynolds – 1902

Joseph P. Reynolds, Tea, Wine & Spirit Merchant, began pulling the pints

here in 1902 and later executing an Edwardian interior refurbishment of

the Victorian pub. This pub wasn’t mentioned by James Joyce in Ulysses but

he does refer to Capel Street in his short story, Two Gallants. Reynolds

traded here for five years before selling to respected operators, Clarke &

Heerey in 1907.

Clarke & Heerey and the Easter Rising

By 1907 the long established partnership of Clarke and Heerey had taken

possession of this old hostelry and began the task of sailing this ship into

gentle waters. These were boom times for the Dublin licensed trade as a

new spirit of adventure coupled with increased employment and more

disposable income heralded generous dividends. Most importantly, this

was a period of low inflation for publicans accompanied by few price

increases from the suppliers.

The good ship Clarke & Heerey, which sailed merrily along throughout the

quiet Easter weekend of 1916, suddenly ran aground on Easter Monday

April 24th. The Easter Rising had begun. Capel Street was caught in the

middle between the insurgents who occcupied the GPO on one side and

the occupiers of the Four Courts on the other. This battle raged all week. At

precisely 16.40hrs on Thursday April 27th the Sherwood Foresters stormed

Capel Street Bridge (Grattan) and cut the rebel forces in two. Making their

way up Capel Street, they emptied and then occupied each premises

including that of Clarke & Heerey. And while the Sherwood Foresters mayshown military discipline in battle, they showed no such discipline where

personal possessions were concerned, looting as they went. They caused

considerable cosmetic damage in Clarke & Heerey by ransacking the house.

Martial Law was declared by British General Maxwell which forced Dublin

public houses to remained closed for two weeks.

Following the Rising, publican Patrick Clarke made a claim to the Property

Losses Committee of £51- 18s – 4d securing a payout of £43-18s, which is

equivalent to €5,500 today. Young Michael Cunningham, an assistant at the

pub, who lived overhead on the third floor made a claim for £3 – 11s – 6d

because the Foresters had looted his clothes and belongings. He was paid

in full, some €450 in today’s money.

Clarke & Heerey to Vaughan Bros

The Irish War of Independence was in full swing when Vaughan Bros took

possession of this hostelry in 1920. And just as their predecessors had seen

military engagements in 1916, they too were in for a show like no other.

This was clearly not a pleasant place to be between June 28th – 30th 1922

at the outset of the Irish Civil War during the Siege of the Four Courts. The

Vaughan Bros were known sympathisers of the national struggle and it is

thought this may have been a safe house during the War of Independence.

Later Decades

The Vaughan Bros remained in charge of this liquid shrine of antiquity until

the stormclouds of war were evident in 1939. They were replaced by the

O’Connor Bros, who in turn were replaced by John J. Kerwick, later again

Mrs. Hill and Murphy & McGovern in the late 1950s. The rateable valuation

was then 145 Guineas, a factor that was inordinately helped by the

presence of Kilmartin Bookmakers next door.

The Kingsway Bar

Publican James Nolan secured this premises in the mid 60s and remodelled

it into a contemporary Lounge Bar, the social love child of the 60s. He

renamed it the Kingsway Bar. Any vestige of grocery was now a distant

memory. The premises reappeared on the market again in 1977 and was

renamed the Earl Grattan, and later still the Grattan.Imbibers of the 20th century came to know and love this oasis of longevity

as Jack Nealon’s in honour of a former charismatic publican from Skerries,

Co. Dublin. This house has been in the current ownership since 2018 and is

undergoing a tasteful transformation in style, quality, service and offering

of product.

The echoes of a vibrant past reverberate around this social repository of

culture and heritage paving the way for a bright and successful future. And

the future promises to be a culturally enriching as that historic past.

© Eamonn Casey

Licensed Trade Historian

Email: eamonncasey1@g