M O'Briens

O'Brien's pub was bought in 1942 by Mick O 'Brien from Co Cavan. For decades he ran the pub for the almost classless society that was in Leeson Street until the end of the 1960s. Plumbers, writers, doctors, artists, civil servants, busmen, architects and two gravediggers were part of the motley collection of people who drank together in this pub when it was only half its present size. Overlooking it all, hands behind his back, eyes missing nothing, stood the sturdy figure of Mick O 'Brien, his large nose creating the impression of a latter-day Toby jug. His manager, Ned, an O'Byrne from the Wicklow Mountains, dispensed drinks and repartee, his great laugh equalled only by his closing-time roars. The interior of the pub has changed little.