Hanlon’s pub gives its name to Hanlon’s Corner at the top of Prussia Street. It’s an old Dublin landmark; the bar features in an early chapter of Another Case in Cowtown.
As it faces onto the busy North Circular, it should ring a bell for many Dubliners who otherwise might think they’ve never been in Stoneybatter. It suited my purposes: a down-to-earth, old-fashioned hostelry, a local at a crossroads where all classes of people mix, a place that was more rough around the edges and certainly not as hip as the Mulligans and Walshes of this world. But it’s not one of those “pubs that time forgot” either – it rings the changes in its own way.
 Its outside has also gone through many colour schemes over the years. At one time it was blue and white. For a brief period after that it was a horrible English-mustard yellow and black, then cream and black. Now it’s a burgundy and cream a shopfront combination that seems almost vintage nowadays.
In 2018 Hanlons pub was purchased by the Grainger Family who are well known 4th generation Publicans and will reopen Hanlon’s Pub bring it into the future and tending to the needs of the local area by providing a warm friendly welcome to all and serving excellent food and some of the best Irish entertainment.

A Bit Of Local History: Cattle Market, North Circular Road.

The cattle market was located between North Circular Road and Stoneybatter (nicknamed ‘Cowtown’), bounded by Prussia Street, Aughrim Street and St. Joseph’s Road. In its heyday in the 1950s, the cattle market in Dublin was the nerve centre of the nation’s livestock trade, handling up to a million cattle, sheep and pigs annually, with cattle being the main stock-in-trade. It was the largest weekly livestock sale in Europe. At a time when the country’s economy depended in particular on the cattle trade, prices were effectively set at the cattle market in Dublin and went on to affect prices at fairs and markets throughout the country.
Particular families engaged in the business of cattle trading or as sales masters in the market, often starting in the family business from an early age – the Barrys, Dolans, Lyons, Connons and Barretts come to mind. Dealers and buyers acting for sales masters such as the bought cattle at fairs or off the land right across the south, midlands and west. These cattle were then moved by train or road east to the counties of Kildare, Meath and Dublin to be finished or sold immediately in the market. Livestock going directly for sale were kept initially in ‘cattle parks’ for a day or two at least – these were located mainly along the Navan Road, in what are now established north Dublin suburbs such as Cabra, Finglas and Castleknock. The livestock were shifted by local drovers from the ‘cattle parks’ herded into yards around Prussia Street, before being finally moved into the market on the morning of the sale.