315) Lowry's of Summerhill Parade, D1

Upon handing over a tenner for two Beamish, one may experience the unrivaled pleasure of being passed back three euros in coin, making the pint €3.50 a pop – thus does this pub steal the laurels from Cumiskey's, the Dominick Inn and the Auld Triangle, and proclaim itself the purveyor of the cheapest Beamish in Dublin (tying with Caulfield's Bar and Hotel, which doesn't exactly count as a pub true and proper, and leaving aside the abominable Weatherspoons chain, which really, really doesn't pass muster, five cents less be damned).

However, this cheapness is virtually all that Lowry's has to recommend it. While marginally more cheerful and thus an iota preferable to its near neighbour The Ref, it's still a dump void of character, a bare room in which people sit and drink and crackly loud music is cranked out over the speakers – opinions are divided as to whether the correct term is 'a dive' or 'a hole'. A youthful barkeep is prone to making unnecessary athletic leaps over the counter (is he just showing off or has he needed to apply karate to undesirables in the past?) and doggies are welcomely welcome. An old souse was seen to topple off his chair – roars of laughter greeted this pratfall, and the ensuing comments suggested it was not at all an irregular occurrence. All in all, one visit will be quite enough, from a sheerly box-ticking perspective.

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