J. Kennedy’s Bar – Best music in town

Following closure for much of 2011 for renovations, I’m glad to report that one of my favourite old Dublin haunts is back up and running.

For years one of the most defiantly staid and traditional of Dublin watering holes, the place has of late been displaying a Bowie-esque capacity for reinvention.

When I first started coming here in the 1990s, it was a charmingly kitsch, ’70s-style bar that catered to one-old-man-and-his-dog and seemed on the verge of extinction. Then one of the sons took over the running of the place a few years back – out went the battered old carpet and some of the more naff elements of the decor, in came tasteful candlelight and wooden floors.

Now he has gone down the full makeover route. The result is all very tasteful, with its exposed brickwork and dark wooden panelling, if rather unoriginal. Personally I preferred the place the way it used to be, but I don’t have to earn a living out of it. Credit, too, for remaining one of the few Dublin pubs not to install a television.

The real point of Kennedy’s in its present incarnation, however, is the music. The guy has seriously good taste, and plays some wonderfully obscure stuff. Coming here can be a real musical education.

The new look may be more generic, but this place is still unique.