“It’s called Jimmy Rabbitte’s, after a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle in 1987 and set in Dublin’s North Side which tells the story of a group of unemployed young people who starts a soul band.” [sic]
There are many things wrong with this sentence, found in the drinks menu on each table in J.R. Rabbittes Speakeasy (as per the sign in the window) and/or Jimmy Rabbittes @ The Camden (as per the lo-res .jpeg on the screen behind the bar), a bar which opened up during the summer, which is part of the larger Camden Palace family.
It doesn’t actually explain where the name came from at all, or name the novel that it came from, or which of the two characters called Jimmy Rabbitte from the Barrytown Trilogy – Junior or Senior – that it is named after. Nor are they consistent with the actual name of the bar (which isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a speakeasy), nor does the bar make any other reference to The Commitments, or even the scenes of the The Commitments that were literally shot in The Palace (or Ricardo’s Snooker Hall, as was). And then there’s the grammar.
Elsewhere inside the bar, there are a bountiful number of postcards pinned to its rafters, all of which appear to be blank. Bearing in mind that the bar is only months old, and used to be a restaurant called Fritehaus, this display of conjured bonhomie is borderline ridiculous. No one would believe that someone, let alone hundreds of people, would write postcards to this place.
Despite this array of flaws, there are things to get behind at Jimmy Rabbitte’s. Décor-wise, the walls are covered head-to-toe in portraits of animals wearing human clothes and even more bizarrely pseudo-antique landscapes with UFOs daubed into them that are just daft enough to be charming. The backyard links into that laneway-cum-courtyard of graffitied Irish rockstars and features a newly installed Pitt Bros. pop-up operating out of a converted shipping container and dishing up quick and ready barbecue grub. Their food, much like Fowl Play in the Square Ball, makes for excellent accompaniment for pints. Speaking of which, the Guinness came in at a fiver on the nose and was awarded the illustrious “I’ve had a lot worse” rating by my companion.
However, the real backstory, rather than any cockamamie connection to Roddy Doyle classics, is that the Camden Palace complex has been bought by the Murray Group (owner of Murray’s, The Living Room, Fibbers, The Czech Inn and The Hill) who plan to convert the former Planet Murphy’s and The Palace in a sports mega-bar with a capacity mooted to be around 1,000.
With Wetherspoons slated to convert a homeless shelter into a superpub (thank you for the most Dublin 2017 metaphor ever lads) just down the road, and the already ensconced establishments of Mercantile Group and Flannery’s, it looks like Camden Street is going to get even busier and even boozier.
Words – Ian Lamont
Photo – Killian Broderick
87 Camden Street Lower
Dublin 2
t: 01-4780808
