The Stag’s Head recently won the award of Tourist Pub of the Year 2017 at the inaugural Irish Pub Awards. It is a historical Dublin pub renowned for its hospitality and famous pint of Guinness!
Though a tavern has existed on the site since the 1780s, this premises first attained great fame in the 1830s as John Bull’s Albion Hotel and Tavern. It was one of the most sought after premises of the age, in close proximity to Dublin’s ‘Theatreland’ and the fashionable stores of Dame Street and College Green. A popular music hall business was developed on the site, a trend continued by proprietors Alica and Henry Murphy during the 1840s. William Wormington succeeded them here in the 1860s and James Kennedy took the reins in the 1880s.
Birth of the Stag’s Head
The Stag’s Head was the brainchild of Westmoreland merchant George Tyson who came to Ireland in the 1870s and established a thriving menswear and haberdashery business in Grafton Street, from where he was appointed ‘outfitter and shirtmaker to the Lord Lieutenant’. He acquired the premises in the early 1890s and commissioned leading architect J.M. McGloughlin of Pearse Street to build Dublin’s most advanced and distinctive Victorian pub – and the first in the Capital to enjoy electric light. The new creation opened its doors to the Dublin public in May 1894 amid majestic fanfare and distinguished patronage including the Lord Lieutenant and the most respected members of contemporary Victorian society. Tyson’s name is still to be seen on the large clock on the outside of the building. Another outstanding vestige of this era is the little parlour lounge discreetly situated behind the main bar, in former times this area served as a fashionable Victorian smoking room. You truly get a sense of hidden Ireland when you accidentally stumble upon The Stag’s Head. Finding it is akin to discovering a rare treasure as it is concealed through a narrow passageway off Dame Street. This is probably Dublin’s best preserved Victorian pub, everything here is of authentic Victorian origin. Take time to look around and savour the sumptuously carved Victorian mahogany fittings, the mosaic marble tiled floors and granite tabletops. The mahogany bar, capped with red Connemara marble, follows the classic Victorian architectural pattern, being long and punctuated by exquisite partitions that divide into private compartments or stalls. The Stag’s Head has long been a staple of any night out in the city for Dubliners and tourists alike.
Private Parties, Corporate functions and Group Bookings for food and drinks can be accommodated in either of the spacious and private lounges.
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