Trading on Harry Street, just off Grafton Street.
The building was once Dublin's City Morgue, and was later converted into a chapel for the Moravian Brethren. The high ceilings, almost-Gothic windows and stained-glass borders are surviving traces of both lives.
McDaid's was the literary pub of mid-20th-century Dublin. Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, Flann O'Brien, J.P. Donleavy and Liam O'Flaherty were all regulars; Behan based characters in The Hostage and Borstal Boy on publicans and patrons he met here. Joycean scholars identify McDaid's as the setting for the opening of Joyce's short story Grace.
The high, almost-tomb-like ceiling and Gothic windows survive from the building's chapel period. Little has changed since.
Patrick Kavanagh held court from a special seat at the end of the counter through the 1950s. Brendan Behan didn't take his arrival well — the two writers spent years hurling insults at each other across the bar in a vicious public feud, with the regulars generally siding with Kavanagh.
Photo via GoogleBrendan Behan's old favourite, this traditional pub keeps its stained glass and dark wood interior.
— Google
Opening hours
| Mon | 2:00 – 11:00 PM |
|---|---|
| Tue | 2:00 – 11:00 PM |
| Wed | 2:00 – 11:00 PM |
| Thu | 12:00 – 11:30 PM |
| Fri | 12:00 PM – 12:30 AM |
| Sat | 12:00 PM – 12:30 AM |
| Sun | 12:00 – 11:00 PM |
Photo, hours, ratings & contact info via Google Maps
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
| Address | 3 Harry Street, |
|---|---|
| County | Pubs in Dublin |
| Eircode | D02 NC42 |
| Revenue ref | S0093 |
Heritage-listed building
Modified during the early-twentieth century, the slender rendered façade stands out against the backdrop of largely red brick buildings. Retaining a good decorative shopfront, a good interior and original windows, the building forms part of a collection of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century buildings that gives Harry Street its character. McDaid's was noted as one of the city's literary pubs.
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Heritage listed
McDaids is one of 689 architecturally significant pub buildings recorded by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
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