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DAVY BYRNES Notable

AND ADJOINING PREMISES SITUATE AT 21 DUKE STREET AND, 7A DUKE LANE, Dublin

AddressAND ADJOINING PREMISES SITUATE AT 21 DUKE STREET AND, 7A DUKE LANE
CountyDublin
EircodeD02 K380
Websitedavybyrnes.com
Licence ref1007394
♿ Limited wheelchair access

🏭 Heritage-listed building

NIAH building record

Built: c.1715 · NIAH rating: Regional

No. 21 Duke Street is one of several early former houses remaining on a street laid out by Joshua Dawson in the early eighteenth century. Architecturally, the building is characterized by typical restrained detailing and Georgian proportions, with some modifications to the fenestration, and a fine early twentieth-century shopfront. The building accommodates a well-known Dublin public house established 1889, and which has strong associations with Dublin literary history. It is immortalized in Joyce's Ulysses, being frequented by Leopold Bloom who describes it as a 'Nice quiet bar. Nice...

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From the record · Deep research

What the archives say

Independent reporting and heritage records on this pub, drawn from a curated list of Irish news outlets, Revenue Commissioners, NIAH, and the Dictionary of Irish Architects. Every claim links to its primary source.

Listing historyCultural mentionsArchitecture

Revenue's renewed-liquor-licence register lists licence ref 1007394 as a Publican's Licence (7-Day Ordinary) for DAVY BYRNES at 21 Duke Street and 7A Duke Lane in Co. Dublin, with DAVY BYRNE'S LIMITED as licensee.[1]

NIAH records Davy Byrne's at 21 Duke Street as a regional-rated former house, now recorded as a public house, with architectural, artistic, cultural, and social interest.[2]

The same NIAH record describes the building as an early former house, built c.1725, with an early twentieth-century pubfront and an inter-war interior of about 1940.[2]

NIAH says the building accommodates a public house established in 1889 and links the premises to Ulysses through Leopold Bloom's visit to Davy Byrne's.[2]

The Irish Times reported in 2013 that Davy Byrnes had been patronised since 1889 and that its Ulysses association made it a pilgrimage site for literary visitors.[3]

The same 2013 article said the Doran family had owned Davy Byrnes since 1942, when Michael Doran acquired it for GBP10,000.[3]

In 2018 The Irish Times reported that Davy Byrnes Ltd and the 900-year lease for 21 Duke Street were being offered for sale at more than EUR6 million.[4]

That 2018 report said Davy Byrne came from Wicklow, opened the pub in 1889, and retired in 1939.[4]

The Irish Times also reported that Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith, and the provisional cabinet met there frequently.[4]

A 2023 Irish Times Bloomsday piece again identified Duke Street's Davy Byrne's as the pub where Bloom stopped for a Gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of wine.[5]

The Irish Times reported in 2009 that the Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award was sponsored by Davy Byrnes and organised by the Stinging Fly in association with The Irish Times.[6]

Sources  (6)
  1. Revenue Commissioners · Register of Renewed Liquor Licences · 2026-05-08
  2. NIAH · Davy Byrne's, 21 Duke Street, Dublin 2, DUBLIN · 2016-05-16
  3. Irish Times · "Future Proof: Preserving a heritage of service" · 2013-05-21
  4. Irish Times · "Davy Byrnes, immortalised by Joyce in 'Ulysses', for sale at EUR6m" · 2018-10-26
  5. Irish Times · "Welcome to summer in Dublin, with dereliction, degradation and dirt on the streets" · 2023-06-16
  6. Irish Times · "The line-up and the legacy" · 2009-05-16

PubHub lore

Local notes

Established

Trading as Davy Byrnes since 1889 at 21 Duke Street.

Family

The Doran family arrived in 1942 and remain the proprietors today.

Literary links

Immortalised by James Joyce in *Ulysses*, Chapter 8 ('Lestrygonians'). Leopold Bloom stops here for a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy on 16 June 1904 — the date now celebrated as Bloomsday. Joyce calls it 'the moral pub.'

Architecture

The interior is rare in Dublin — Art Deco, drawing on the pre-war Left Bank Paris vogue. The 1942 Doran refurbishment shaped the room visitors see today. Note the priceless frescoes by Cecil French Salkeld (Brendan Behan's father-in-law) and the Joycean Dublin murals by Liam Proud.

Rituals

Every 16 June, Bloomsday celebrants arrive in period dress and order Bloom's lunch — gorgonzola and burgundy — from morning into the afternoon.

Food

The gorgonzola sandwich is still on the menu. The kitchen acknowledges the Joycean lineage without over-doing it.

Reputation

Dublin's literary tourist pilgrimage point — kept honest by a regular lunch-and-after-work crowd.

Memory wanted

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