NUMBER 5 LOWER BAGGOT STREET, AND EXTENSION ATTACHED AT, NUMBER 4 BAGGOT STREET, Dublin
No. 4 Baggot Street Lower is the westernmost of a pair of Georgian former houses that share parapet height, fenestration layout and corresponding corner quoins. It has been adapted as an extension to the adjoining public house. The ground floor elevation has been much altered and modernized, but the retained facade above is a typical example of the Georgian terraced style. The building contributes to the historic character of this Georgian street.
From the record · Verified background
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.
Revenue's renewed-liquor-licence register lists licence ref S0002 as a Publican's Licence (7-Day Ordinary) for DOHENY AND NESBITT at NUMBER 5 LOWER BAGGOT STREET, AND EXTENSION ATTACHED AT, NUMBER 4 BAGGOT STREET in DUBLIN CITY with SWIGMORE INNS LIMITED as licensee.[1]
The Irish Times reported in 2019 that Doheny & Nesbitt on Baggot Street was bought in 1987 by brothers Tom and Paul Mangan and was the first pub in Ireland to change hands for more than GBP1 million.[2]
The Irish Times described the pub as a long-time haunt of politicians from nearby Leinster House and of lawyers, architects and actors.[2]
Dublin City Council refused retention permission in 2023 for advertising banners and flagpoles on the front of Doheny & Nesbitt, according to The Irish Times.[3]
Reviewed pub lore
Established
The building began life as a Georgian house around 1790. It has been a public house since the 1840s — first as Delahunty's (~50 years), then under Lynch & O'Connor (1924), Felix Connolly, and finally the Tipperary partnership of Ned Doheny and Tom Nesbitt who give the pub its name.
Architecture
Original 19th-century counter and fittings throughout. Carved timber, aged wooden floors, an ornate papier-mâché ceiling. Protected structure. Among Dublin's most-photographed Victorian pubs.
Regulars
A short walk from Leinster House makes this the unofficial after-hours room of the Dáil. Politicians, civil servants, lobbyists, lawyers, journalists, architects and actors all drink here — earning the pub the affectionate nickname 'The Doheny & Nesbitt School of Economics.'
Reputation
An emblem of how thoroughly Irish public life is conducted in the public house. The pub where policy gets discussed first and amended later.
Community memories
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