Egan's of Smithfield

The British Army seized Egan’s public house in Smithfield which they used as a firing position in the attack on Church Street and during the events of the North King Street massacre. The soldiers of the South Staffs spent considerable time breaking through the wall of the houses and by the time they reached the Rebel’s position the Rebels had gone. In their frustration at not catching the Rebels the soldiers of the South Staffs turned their anger on the residents of North King Street. 15 men and boys were rounded up and either shot or bayoneted to death. Included among the fatalities were Patrick Bealen, aged 30, who had been employed as foreman at Mrs. Mary O'Rourke's licensed house, 177 North King street, Dublin, and James Healy, aged 44, employed as a labourer at Jameson's Distillery, Bow street, and residing at Little Green street. The bodies, which bore marks of bullet wounds, had both been disinterred on 10th May in the cellar of O’Rourke’s pub at 177 North King Street by the sanitary authorities.

The Pubs of Enniscorthy

One of the few battles outside Dublin during Easter Week was Enniscorthy, Co Wexford which was seized by the Rebels. The Athenaeum theatre was made the Republicans’ headquarters, over which they flew the green, white and orange tricolour. All the public houses in the town were closed down and as Father Patrick Murphy, a priest who publicly blessed the rebels, recalled,

“During the four days of Republican rule, not a single person was under the influence of drink”.

'There was an order given that no publicans were to supply anyone with drink. That evening two men were caught in Loftus Porter's public house in Templeshannon. Both of them were from Shannon. Mike Murphy (Toby) and Bernard Neill were arrested and the keys of the public house taken from the owner. His shop was locked up and the keys brought to headquarters'.

Witness Statement of Thomas Doyle, Weafer Street, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.

Meagher's North Earl Street

Once the rebel garrison had secured their headquarters at the GPO on O’Connell Street, the poor of the city slums on the Northside of the city began to riot and loot. Padraig Pearse attempted to stop this and sent out a patrol to expel the looters. Two men crossed onto North Earl Street and ‘banished’ a number of troublemakers but as they made their way back towards their HQ they heard noises from inside Meagher’s pub. They looked in but initially saw the premises as deserted. As they were walking out they could hear roaring and shouting coming from the direction of the cellar. The went behind the counter and noticed the trap door to the cellar open and candle light coming from the cellar. One of the Volunteers took the first steps down into the cellar and saw three women known as ‘shawlies’ drunk out of their heads. They were drinking the wine from saucers. He roared at them ‘in the name of the Irish Republic you need to leave this pub and go home to your families’. There was a moment of silence followed by a barrage of verbal abuse and a shower of bottles. The rattled rebel scarpered back up the steps and he and his colleague returned to the safety of the GPO. They reported the events to Pearse who asked them why they had not followed orders and ejected the women,

            ‘We would rather fight the British guns than tackle those three auld ones’.

The Destruction of Dublin Pubs

Some of the pubs that were completely destroyed or severely damaged as a result of fire from both sides of the Rising included

Eden Quay                   Mooney’s

                                    Joseph McGreevy’s

                                    E Moore

Moore Street                J Humphrey’s

                                    Francis Fee

Malboro Street             J Farrell's

Ushers Quay                H Kavanagh

Lwr Bridgefoot Street  Brazen Head

“Smart and others used home-made grenades to set the public house on fire, in the hope that this would end this activity, which it apparently did. The pub was burnt out, with the Dublin Fire Brigade arriving too late to do anything about it.”

Sackville Place             Denis Egan’s

Abbey Street                The Oval

This Abbey street pub was all but destroyed by the end of Easter Week. The pub had been purchased in 1902 by John Egan and after a major refurbishment reopened in 1903. It was very popular with both the local journalists and with rebels in the lead up to the Rising. The pub remained closed for six years before opening much as it is today to the public

                                    The Ship

Enniscorthy Pubs 1916

One of the few battles outside Dublin was Enniscorthy which was seized by the Rebels. The Athenaeum theatre was made the Republicans’ headquarters, over which they flew the green, white and orange tricolour. All the public houses in the town were closed down and as Father Patrick Murphy, a priest who publicly blessed the rebels, recalled,

“During the four days of Republican rule, not a single person was under the influence of drink”.

According to Volunteer Thomas Doyle of Enniscorthy

“There was an order given that no publicans were to supply anyone with drink. That evening two men were caught in Loftus Porter's publichouse in Templeshannon. Mike Murphy (Toby) and Bernard Neill were arrested and the keys of the publichouse taken from the owner. His shop was locked up and the keys brought to headquarters. 

Bowe's South William Street

James Bowe’s pub on William Street was seized by the rebels and used as a sniping position but was abruptly abandoned leaving the valuable weapons behind and it was left to member of Cumman NaBan to retrieve them. Annie O’Brien takes up the story,

“Word came in from a sniping post, a public house called Bowe's at the corner of William St. and Coppinger Row and that the two snipers at that post had evacuated it, leaving their arms behind them, and they sent word to Dawson St. to have their arms collected and put into safe keeping. The two of us went to the post and found the house locked up. We went to the house next door where we found a friendly man who showed us up to the skylight which we got through and on to the roof of the public house. Its skylight was a bit small and only my sister, who was small, was able to get through. She went down and opened the door of the public house for the rest of us. We had to search the whole of the house for the arms and at last we found the two loaded rifles in an office”