164) Hyne’s Bar of Prussia Street, D7
‘And I wouldn't be fond of drinking, but when I do go at it, I do go at it awful and very hard. I do have 45 pints in about 2 hours. I'd have a packet of crips then and maybe an auld packet of peanuts, and I'd go for probably... well I'd have 3 more anyway! And I'd get up the following morning and Maureen would have the fry on. And I'd go at it again! And there'd be no fucking stopping me. I'd take the shirt off any man's back. Bastards!’ This is the online meme created by Ulick McGee that went viral in 2017. These words make up a brief comedy sketch uttered as a voiceover accompanying an authentic photograph of a certain ‘pintman’ Paddy Losty, a real citizen, no longer living. He has been immortalised as being associated with this voice clip but in reality, we know little about him. What we can say is that Losty drank here in Hyne’s, and how business must have dipped after his final farewell.
Although, perhaps a substantial amount of apprentice pintmen travel here to put their guts to the test as an ode to Paddy? The only public black and white photograph of Paddy was published in 1997 in Dublin Pub Life and Lore by Kevin C. Kearns. The bar itself, besides its most famous customer, is low and long, and awful and dark. Betting is popular, especially with the pub’s own captain ‘Shotover’ - a white-bearded dishevelled citizen wearing a guttered face, a psychotic smile and intelligent eyes (and has been seen walking the various streets of Dublin city). Another gambler was heard to belittle his unfortunate friend’s betting skills by proclaiming ‘I’ve more platinum records than you have winners!’
Update as of 2019: we were disappointed to find no trace of Paddy Losty anywhere in the pub. No shrine, no plaque, not even a photograph. The young barman on duty revealed the stool on which Paddy used to put himself each day and informed us that owner ‘Noel’ could tell us a great deal more if we’d only stay for another round of Guinness. We immediately declined. A heartless hovel is Hyne’s. Poor Paddy.
Rival Shotovers eyeball each other
Update as of September 2021: Hyne’s is under new management and a new lease of life has been injected into the premises. On the wall in the beer garden in huge font there lies a quote. Finally, decisively, assuredly, conclusively a shrine to Paddy is born…
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