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The Closure Documentation Project

Ireland has lost 2,119 pubs since 2005. That is not a statistic about licensing — it is a statistic about communities. We are documenting what is being lost, building by building, townland by townland, before the last people who remember them are gone.

2,119pub closures since 2005
112closures per year on average
37.2%decline in Limerick since 2005
1,000further closures projected by 2035

The launch feature

We analysed the DIGI 2025 data county by county — where the decline is fastest, what the buildings looked like, and what happens to a village when its pub closes. The picture is not encouraging, but it is important.

Read: The pubs Ireland lost — what the DIGI 2025 data tells us

Submit a closure story

Have photos, memories, or documents about a pub that has closed? We want to hear from you.

Submit below

Live log: what we've lost since launch

A dated record of every pub closure and succession documented since 2 May 2026. We are not back-filling history — pre-launch closures live in the DIGI report above and the heritage section below. This list grows from here, by name, by date.

No closures recorded yet.

We started counting on 2 May 2026. The first entry will appear here when we have one — confirmed and dated. The 2,119-pub historical figure above is a separate count.

Know of a pub that's closed? Tell us.

Heritage-listed pubs now used as something else

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records 21 pub buildings across Ireland that were purpose-built as, or historically used as, public houses — but are no longer operating as pubs. These are the ones we know about. There are many more that were never recorded before they changed hands.

Offaly

Thatched public house, Ballyboy

c.1800 · Now disused · NIAH rating: Regional

The only traditional thatched public house remaining in Offaly. Detached six-bay single-storey at a corner location in Ballyboy village, with pitched oaten straw roof, decorative knotting, and exposed scolloping. Built around 1800 — it was a pub for over two centuries.

NIAH record
Westmeath

Former public house, Killucan

c.1865 · Now restaurant & takeaway · NIAH rating: Regional

End-of-terrace four-bay two-storey commercial building in Killucan, built as part of a common project with its neighbour. Retains much of its original fabric including a well-maintained example of a traditional shopfront — itself becoming a rarity in Irish streetscapes.

NIAH record
Cork

Former cinema pub, Grand Parade

c.1935 · Now shop & post office · NIAH rating: Regional

Single-bay two-storey former public house on Cork's Grand Parade, built for the adjoining cinema to the south. An interesting example of inter-war Irish commercial architecture — the stepped parapet repeated in the stepped fascia. Now a shop and post office.

NIAH record
Cork

Ballyhooly Lodge

c.1930 · Now restaurant & house · NIAH rating: Regional

One of the few purpose-built early twentieth-century public houses in the Cork region. Its L-plan takes advantage of a strategic junction south of a major river crossing. The chamfered corner entrance is unusual and the formal façade survives intact.

NIAH record
Limerick

O'Mara's, Abbeyfeale

c.1900 · Now laundrette · NIAH rating: Regional

A masterpiece of stucco work by Pat McAuliffe (1846–1921), Listowel's renowned artisan builder. Classical Revival meets Celtic interlacing, Byzantine urns, and a balustrade — all on a modest Abbeyfeale pub front. Now a laundrette. McAuliffe's work on three Abbeyfeale buildings survives; this one has already changed its use.

NIAH record
Dublin

Fitzgerald's, 22 Aston Quay

c.1880 · Current use unknown · NIAH rating: Regional

Two-bay four-storey over basement pub on Aston Quay, south of O'Connell Bridge. Red brick and terracotta mouldings, polychrome string courses. The 1901 Census records publican Patrick Cahill here. Aston Quay was laid out c.1680 on land reclaimed from the Liffey — very little of the early fabric remains; this is one of the last.

NIAH record
Dublin

Mooney & Co., Abbey Street Lower

1917 · Now Permanent TSB bank · NIAH rating: Regional

Built 1917 by McDonnell & Dixon — an exuberant composition in pink and grey granite with a double-height Arts and Crafts oriel window. The inscription "Mooney & Co. Ltd / Wines and Spirits" is still carved into the masonry. Now it processes mortgages. The stained glass on the original entrance doorway survives.

NIAH record
Dublin

Delahunt, Camden Street Lower

1906 · Now restaurant · NIAH rating: Regional

Built 1906, this Edwardian landmark retains its original shopfront with fluted timber pilasters, console brackets, and a tiled threshold bearing the initials of John Delahunt, Edwardian tea and spirit merchant. Interior still has the original carved timber bar and liquor cabinet. One of the rare cases where the building changed from pub to restaurant but the heritage fabric survived.

NIAH record
Cork

The Corner House, Ballineen

c.1820 · Now disused · NIAH rating: Regional

Corner-sited former pub on Main Street, Ballineen, built c.1820 — now disused. The survival of its timber shopfront, with panelled pilasters, moulded architrave, and traditional double-leaf doors, is particularly noteworthy as traditional shopfronts disappear from Irish towns.

NIAH record
Limerick

Former pub, The Square, Galbally

c.1845 · Now house · NIAH rating: Regional

Prominent end-of-terrace four-bay building on Galbally's town square, built c.1845. The render shopfront — Doric-style fluted pilasters, consoles, dentillated cornice — survives intact despite conversion to a private house. One of two former pubs facing each other across the same Galbally square.

NIAH record
Limerick

A.J. Ryan, Galbally

c.1820 · Now house · NIAH rating: Regional

Detached five-bay two-storey former pub in Galbally, built c.1820. The render shopfront retains fluted pilasters with ornate consoles, a fascia with raised lettering bearing the A.J. Ryan name, and moulded cornice. Now a private house — its shopfront the last trace of its commercial life.

NIAH record
Limerick

Former public house, Kilfinnane

c.1830 · Now unknown · NIAH rating: Regional

End-of-terrace six-bay two-storey building on Main Street, Kilfinnane, built c.1830. Its tripartite timber shopfront with high-quality carved consoles prompted the NIAH to note that such shopfronts are "becoming increasingly rare in Ireland." Current use unrecorded — the building itself survives.

NIAH record
Limerick

Former pub, 41 Lord Edward Street, Kilmallock

c.1870 · Now office · NIAH rating: Regional

Terraced three-bay three-storey building at Lord Edward Street, Kilmallock, built c.1870. Now offices. The shopfront's ornate pilasters and bipartite display window provide what NIAH describes as "artistic interest" — a modest building made distinctive by its craftsmanship.

NIAH record
Limerick

J.D. Daly, Abbeyfeale

1859 (dated) · Now shop · NIAH rating: Regional

Large-scale Abbeyfeale building dated 1859, decorated by Pat McAuliffe with an eclectic stucco façade — Corinthian capitals, Egyptian cornice mouldings, arabesques, Hiberno-Romanesque bearded men and lion masks, and Italian diamond-pointed quoins. A third McAuliffe building on the same street as O'Mara's. Now a shop.

NIAH record
Limerick

O'Connor's, An tSráid Mhór, Abbeyfeale ★ National

c.1850, altered c.1905–10 · Now office · NIAH rating: National

The only building in the NIAH former-pub dataset rated National significance. Pat McAuliffe's most extraordinary work: Celtic interlace, a woolly mammoth, a wolf, a peacock, Eve in the Garden of Eden, and an Anglo-Saxon agricultural fertility charm carved into the façade in Old English. The Latin inscription reads "Vita Brevis Ars Longa — Life is short, Art is long." Originally also a bank, a drapery, a hardware shop, and an undertaker's. Now offices.

NIAH record
Waterford

J. Harris, Ballyduff

c.1890 · Now house · NIAH rating: Regional

Attached three-bay two-storey building in Ballyduff village, built c.1890, with distinctive canted oriel windows and a rendered fascia bearing the raised lettering "J. Harris." Converted to residential/commercial use. The canted oriel windows are unusual for rural Irish commercial buildings of this period.

NIAH record
Donegal

Former public house, Malin village

c.1820 · Now disused · NIAH rating: Regional

Corner-sited building on Malin village green, built c.1820, now disused. Local tradition holds that the minutes of one of Daniel O'Connell's monster meetings were formerly kept here. One of the few buildings around Malin green retaining original sash windows and natural slate roof. "Sensitively restored, this building would represent an integral element of the built heritage of Malin." — NIAH.

NIAH record
Monaghan

Former coaching inn, Newbliss

c.1820 · Now house · NIAH rating: Regional

End-of-terrace five-bay three-storey coaching inn on Main Street, Newbliss, built c.1820 — with integral carriage arch to the ground floor, public house to the west end. The building retains its original joinery: timber sash windows, battened doors, and geometrically glazed overlights. NIAH describes it as "especially attractive."

NIAH record
Monaghan

Monaghan's, Ballybay

c.1850 · Now house · NIAH rating: Regional

Corner-sited building on Main Street, Ballybay, built c.1850. The disused shopfront retains gold lettering to its fascia — "a modest piece of townscape heritage," NIAH notes, "which retains integral architectural components… typical of the traditional streetscapes of smaller Irish towns."

NIAH record
Dublin

Former pub, 47–48 Hogan Place

c.1910 · Now restaurant · NIAH rating: Regional

Corner-sited four-bay three-storey former pub on Hogan Place, Dublin 2, built c.1910 — machine-made red brick, granite detailing, decorative cast-iron hoppers, wraparound pubfront. Now a restaurant. NIAH notes it is "one of the few remaining historically significant buildings on Hogan Place."

NIAH record
Dublin

Former pub, 43 Aungier Street

c.1890 · Vacant and boarded up · NIAH rating: Regional

Corner-sited four-storey purpose-built pub at 43 Aungier Street, Dublin 2, built c.1890, now vacant and boarded up. The original brick-and-stone shopfront survives — Portland limestone stiff-leaf capitals, chamfered granite plinth, full-span dentilled cornice. "One of the two last remaining historic buildings on this stretch of the street." NIAH considers it a landmark.

NIAH record

All 21 buildings recorded by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as former pub buildings are shown above. Hundreds more closed without ever making it onto a heritage register.

Submit a closure story

If you have photos, memories, documents, or local knowledge about a pub that has closed — anywhere in Ireland — we want to hear from you. We are building a permanent record.

Your story will be reviewed before publication. We will credit you unless you ask us not to.