Community memory
Boards.ie memory links The Stag's Head with old memories, stories and gossip, music and sessions, nights out and craic and local colour. PubHub V1 treats this as published forum memory: not a settled fact, but a linked record of what people said, remembered, joked about, or claimed online.
53 source leads · 2001-2020
Read source trail🏭 Heritage-listed building
Built: c.1890 · NIAH rating: Regional
A landmark High Victorian, purpose-built, public house by architect Alfred McGloughlin. Its highly decorated façade retains all original external features. It retains a fine Victorian interior. The Dutch-style gable, oriel and limestone and granite pubfront add considerable architectural interest to the site and the wider streetscape, while the more modest proportions of the building stand in contrast with the larger surrounding buildings. It is one of city's best-known public houses.
🆕 Notable pub
From the record · Deep research
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 S0411 as a Publican's Licence (7-Day Ordinary) for THE STAG'S HEAD at 1 Dame Court, Dame Street in Dublin city, with SHELBOURNE O'BRIEN LIMITED as licensee.[1]
The Dictionary of Irish Architects lists Alfred Ignatius McGloughlin as an architect and architectural draughtsman born in 1863 and died in 1939.[2]
The same Dictionary of Irish Architects entry lists 1895 alterations and additions to No. 1 Dame Court, Stag's Head, for G.W. Tyson, with H. & J. Martin as contractor.[2]
The Irish Times reported in 2005 that the Stag's Head, off Dame Street, sold at auction for EUR5.8 million.[3]
The same report said Louis Fitzgerald bought the pub after seven bidders competed for it.[3]
The Irish Times said Philip Shaffrey sold the Victorian pub after his family had owned it for more than 30 years.[3]
The same 2005 report described the building as a protected structure, built in 1760 and refurbished in 1895.[3]
The Irish Times reported that The Stags Head: Raw gig series returned to the pub's upstairs room on Dame Court in February and March 2013.[4]
The same music notice listed Thomas Donoghue Band, The Niall Toner Band, The Chapters, and Popical Island collective showcase gigs for the 2013 series.[4]
PubHub lore
Established
Records of a pub on the Dame Court site go back to 1770. The interior visitors see today is the product of a major 1895 rebuild by architect A.J. McLoughlin.
Screen
Featured in *A Man of No Importance* (1994) starring Albert Finney.
Screen
Featured in *Educating Rita* (1983) starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters.
Architecture
A complete late-Victorian survival — stag-themed stained glass, mahogany panelling, etched mirrors, and the eponymous mounted stag's head over the bar. The original advertising mosaic on the Dame Street footpath is still in place.
Regulars
A young James Joyce drank here. Michael Collins — and, more recently, Quentin Tarantino — are part of the patrons' lore.
Reputation
The first pub in Ireland to install electric light and the first in Dublin to have a telephone. The 1895 rebuild was a Dublin sensation and remains an exemplar of late-Victorian pub design.
Community memory
Archive time depth
19 years of archive-metadata distance across 51 dated Boards.ie archive leads.
Stories and local colour
The Boards.ie trail has story-shaped signals for this pub: odd details, gossip, atmosphere, nights out or local colour that may be useful leads for a fuller memory page.
2008 · characters, atmosphere, story
2004 · story
This is labelled forum memory: useful gossip, local claims and colour from source-linked public discussion, not PubHub treating the claims as settled fact.
PubHub read of the archive
These cards turn the raw forum trail into practical page leads: gossip, character texture, time depth, source depth, and review warnings where the match pattern is broad.
overmatch_review
Boards.ie produces 53 readable matches for The Stag's Head, but the name or hit pattern is broad enough that PubHub should treat this as a source-mining queue before writing stronger lore. The links still preserve useful public memory leads.
characters
The character lane has 3 signals for The Stag's Head: regulars, staff-memory, crowds, habits, or the social feel of the room. PubHub keeps this as labelled forum memory and uses source review before turning any named-person fragment into stronger copy.
time_depth
The Stag's Head has 51 dated source leads from 2001 to 2020, giving the page a 19-year archive trail. That gives the pub page a memory layer across time, not just a single mention.
source_depth
PubHub has 53 unique Boards.ie source URLs tied to this pub-memory record. Each public lead stays linked so corrections can point to the exact forum source.
Story leads
The Stag's Head has 53 readable Boards.ie memory signals around old memories, stories and gossip, music and sessions, nights out and craic and local colour. The strongest current lead points into "Should an English pub be opened in Dublin?"; PubHub should keep it labelled as forum memory, then use corrections and source review to turn the best fragments into fuller local stories. The character lane is especially useful here, with 3 regulars-or-room-texture signals.
2010 · memory · lead score 135
2008 · memory · lead score 130
2008 · characters, atmosphere, story · lead score 130
2004 · story · lead score 124
2008 · memory · lead score 123
2010 · memory · lead score 135
2008 · characters, atmosphere, story · lead score 130
2008 · memory · lead score 123
2010 · characters · lead score 122
2006 · characters · lead score 115
High-volume or generic-name matches are flagged for source review before PubHub turns them into stronger editorial copy.
Archive profile
The Stag's Head has 53 readable Boards.ie memory matches around old memories, stories and gossip, music and sessions, nights out and craic and local colour. PubHub V1 publishes this as forum memory: what people said online, connected back to source posts where possible.
V1 source
Boards.ie readable-first raw review queue
Memory shape
Old memories, stories and gossip, music and sessions, nights out and craic and local colour
Correction loop
If the page is wrong or unfair, use the correction path and PubHub can update or remove it.
V1 shows linked forum memory and local talk as memory, not as PubHub fact-checking.
Old memories
Boards.ie memory links this pub with older recollections, changed habits, former routines, or remembered visits.
Stories and gossip
Boards.ie memory links this pub with story-shaped talk, gossip, rumours, and local claims worth surfacing as forum memory.
Music and sessions
Boards.ie memory links this pub with music, sessions, singing, gigs, or pub-night rhythm.
Nights out
Boards.ie memory links this pub with nights out, banter, sessions, or lively pub-going talk.
Archive source trail
These are linked Boards.ie leads from pre-2026 discussion. PubHub V1 shows the linked trail as forum memory and uses the correction path for bad matches, missing context, or pages that need checking.
2020Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 85
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2008Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 86
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2003Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 80
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2014Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 80
2008Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 86
2008Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 78
2007Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 80
2006Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 80
2005Boards V1 Raw Review MemoryScore 80
Boards.ie forum memory
Boards.ie memory links The Stag's Head with old memories, stories and gossip, music and sessions, nights out and craic and local colour. PubHub V1 treats this as published forum memory: not a settled fact, but a linked record of what people said, remembered, joked about, or claimed online.
Think this Boards.ie memory is wrong, unfair, missing context, or attached to the wrong pub? Send PubHub a correction and we will check the page. Contact PubHub.