You’re a lucky fuck if you get a seat in the snug! This fine Victorian building has been a licensed public house since 1862. It lay derelict for over 20 years until 2018 when the current moniker opened its doors. An impressive four-storey corner building with pillars and detailed stonework. The pub has had many owners over the years but had a most formidable reputation as The Aungier House - colloquially known as ‘Danger House’ by Dubliners. It’s too expensive for the mere student budget so that keeps all the DIT-heads away from the college over the road. Skipping over the swanky restaurant and cocktail bars above, the ground floor has been fitted out with a firm nod to tradition. It’s a primarily wooden bar with windows aplenty making people-watching a joy. To their credit, they’ve not gone the way of the majority of new pubs crazy for craft beer.

The pint of Guinness, while pricey, is very fine. The said snug is a welcome addition with a hatch to the bar, but it lacks an all-important door which would keep delinquents from peeping on sex. Murphy’s stout is available on draught for those with a sweet tooth in their head and a few pence in their purse. The Lucky Duck occasionally offers a decent ‘pint and toastie’ deal (a must during the Covid-19 era), which puts Grogan’s famous rations of wet bread (somehow burnt) to shame. Said deal may only be offered on weekdays - of a Sunday the day of our Saviour, a costlier (yet scrumptious) array of edibles is on offer to drain your coffer. Whether you go for the trinity of prawns, or the chicken salads with holey cheeses, it’s all good with Jesus.

UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 2024: Breaking news! The Duck may have lost its luck, or just got lucky on a stylistic revamp. Either way, it’s now trading under the name of John O’Dwyer’s and - glory be the saints in heaven - a sterling BEAMISH is now served for the price of (ugh, oh gawd oh man) SIX EUROS AND TEN CENTS. Price aside, it’s a welcome addition to this stretch of Aungier Street and later Georges Street, particularly since both The Long Hall and The Swan have done the dirt and removed their Beamish taps. Perhaps they’re banking on more of McGregor’s latest cash-grab? The filthy Forged stout? (Recently described by a barman as ‘muck’. Well said!) Either way, they’ve missed a trick and created a vacancy, one that John O’Dwyers is now wisely filling. Plaudits all round.

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