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Traditional Pub & Restaurant in the Heart of Dalkey
The village of Dalkey is probably Dublin’s most exclusive, popular and beautiful village. Indeed, it is one of the earliest and the oldest settlements in Ireland, being the country’s premier port of export, throughout the middle ages. The area generally, has a rich and illustrious historical past, that is unequalled in any other region of Dublin.
That unequalled historical past is shared by a pub and restaurant on Coliemore Road – The Club. This founded by Kathleen and Seamus Sheeran, now being successful ran by their daughter and son Miriam and David Sheeran is a modern, progressive and immensely successful business. However, it has a past which is equally historically stimulating.
The premises was first licensed as the “Queenstown Tavern” in 1847 as a pub, private dwelling and community morgue. In those tragic, famine-stricken, distant days of 1847, The morgue was always busy, as families who starved and perished by the roadside, were taken to the morgue, before burial. Equally, the sea-faring mortality was then particularly high, and the Dublin-Dalkey tram constantly brought bodies to the morgue.
However, the greatest point of historical sensation lies in the fact that the premises was once owned by a priest. When Anne Williams died in a city orphanage, of advanced senility, on the 3rd February, 1928: she willed the premises to the Rev. Fr. Cannon John Kelly, Parish Priest of Sandyford. Fr. Kelly then held the premises for 11 months and sold it to Edward Murphy on the 16th January, 1929 for the majestic sum of £350.
By this time, the area of Dalkey had become the aristocratic, exclusive and much sought after location: so it was not surprising that in 1944, the Queenstown Tavern was changed to its current title – The Club.
However, The Club failed to realise its full potential until 1969, when it was purchased by its present owner, Seamus Sheeran, a widely travelled and decisive businessman.
Since 1969, Seamus has undertaken four major renovations, which have totally transformed the size, stature, popularity and character of the Club.
Today, The Club is universally recognised as one of Dublin’s most distinctive pubs. Retaining all of the old world charm with every modern convenience. A great place to go to for lunch or in the evenings particularly after a nice walk round the village. As well as winning a ‘Dining Pub of the Year Award’ three times in the recent past, the Sheeran family have also collected the ‘Black and White Pub of the Year Award’ on four separate occasions, so you know the standards will always be high. The Club is recognised as one of Dublin’s most distinctive pubs and it was a favourite haunt of the late Hugh Leonard.
The atmosphere at the “Club” is warm, intimate and relaxing; factors that are considerably helped by its various spacious sub-divisions, which lend themselves to an atmosphere of privacy and comfort.
Seamus Sheeran attributes the self-evident success of The Club to a combination of atmosphere, good service and ultra-hygenic standards. However, the food trade conducted at The Club is one of its major sources of attraction and popularity. First class daily Lunch Menu followed by a full Bar Menu, an Early Bird, Nightly Specials and a great Kid’s Menu, all of which are cooked to order.
The Club in Dalkey is home to a respectable clientele of local residents, business people and a clientele who travel regularly from the surrounding areas to experience standards and service of the highest order.
Seamus and Kathleen’s son and daughter, David and Miriam, are now actively involved in the day to day running of the business and have continued to operate to the highest standards.
The visitor to Dalkey will find its history and its people an all-consuming passion. In the Club Bar and Restaurant that history is perpetuated and rewritten every day.