116) The Confession Box of Marlborough Street, D1

Formerly ‘The Maid of Erin’, and ‘O’Flanagan’s.’ The current name has many derivations from it having once been the smallest pub in Dublin (a title since disputed and indeed claimed by several others, while the pub itself has exponentially expanded and shot several stories upwards), to its proximity to St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, to it being the mock confession box of Michael Collins during the Rebellion as drunken priests would bestow absolution to penitent soldiers taking refuge within. It has an impressive façade with plaques explaining its historical significance. 

Unfortunately it has gone down the rabbit hole of live music, crap karaoke and large screen TVs blaring out sports. This attracts various bags of scum to squawk about feeling ‘the beat on the tambourine’ while others are emboldened to bet away their week’s wages. The haunt of a Knocklyon butcher with 'a dodgy credit card', according to another regular. Fusciardi’s the famous fish and chip shop sits across the street, and conceivably one could combine the two, washing down the fresh cod with a fresh pint – but only if one was arsed enough to revisit the kip and gawd knows life is short enough already.

Fusciardi’s Cafe, famous for fish and chips (appropriately out of focus & blurry)

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