Lunch in Dublin

Maura drove out to Meath on Thursday to meet friends and have lunch at the Ashbourne House, so I decided I would go into Dublin, take care of some printing, and have lunch.

We still go in for lunch regularly, but while we used drive in, and park close to where we ate, we take the train now. Dublin traffic has become like any other major city, while it was quite manageable when we returned from the States. The bar at the back of the Westbury Hotel was a favourite, as was the bar on the Kildare Street side of the Shelbourne, the one with all the political cartoons. The Westbury fell out of favour, not when they moved away from the old bar, but when the staff were replaced by up-market types who favoured continental accents. Maura suggested I consider eating there, but I found that the most recent incarnation had been replaced, by one which emphasised stainless steel and glass, and which held no attraction for me. I decided I would try the Shelbourne.

Some aspects of the Shelbourne, such as the very welcoming lounge, have not changed, since I interviewed there fifty years ago for a job with Carroll's, the tobacco company, although in most respects it has put on all the trappings of an up-market hotel. The bar we liked has gone, and the dining-room, where I remember having the nicest commercial breakfast I ever enjoyed. The bar and the dining-romm have become one large bar/dining-room, partly furnished with tables and otherwise with little marble-islands with high stools. I chose to sit on one of the stools, close to the large window of the old dining-romm, looking out on the side-walk, the entrance, and across the road to Stephens Green.

Stephens Green is one of the nicest centre-city squares I can remember seeing in a major city. It has an intimacy, which always gives me the feeling that I am one of these people, who are bustling all around me; and when I go into the park, I invariably have the impression that everyone is happy, or at least that they have pushed their cares aside temporarily. As I sat there, I studied the people passing, or coming and going from the hotel, and I felt good.

The Shelbourne, in many ways, is not really different from the Westbury, sharing some of its upmarket characteristics, but the service is discrete, caring, but with a certain reserve, which I like. I suppose that, for me at least, the Shelbourne will always be a special place.