Obscure post

With blogger seemingly down, we're not sure when, if ever, this post will appear, which is perhaps appropriate to its opaque nature. We will merely document some aspects of the Earl of Kildare hotel in Dublin.

It seems to have opened in its current incarnation [it was formerly Powers] on Wednesday, 31 July 1996. It was ceremonially opened by Richard Bruton, then Minister for Enterprise and Employment:

Cashing in on the location across the street [from the Dail], and the name (the Earl built and resided in Leinster House), the new owners have covered the walls with pics of politicians and hope they can woo our legislators away from their old haunts.

By all accounts, it succeeded in this aim, a rare glitch being a food-safety closing in 2004:

Closure Orders were served by Environmental health officers (EHOs) in the Northern Area Health Board on Any Other Restaurant, 22 Moore Street, Dublin 1 and by EHOs in the South Western Area Health Board on the kitchen and associated facilities of Trio Bars Limited in The Earl of Kildare Hotel, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

It also fell foul of a politician in 2003, based on its prices:

[Senator Noel Coonan, FG] said he was flabbergasted by prices at the Earl of Kildare hotel, a city centre venue popular with politicians. Three pints of Guinness set Mr Coonan back €19.50 - but it was the €10 Bacardi and coke which most upset him.

[to be cont'd]

UPDATE 12 FEB: The media tip-toe around the story above has ended; Sunday Independent:

MILLIONAIRE businessman Pat Lenaghan, has revealed that he is the main target of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) raids on hotels, pubs and the offices of solicitors and accountants.

The businessman, who runs the Earl of Kildare Hotel near Dail Eireann and a multimillion property empire, has broken his silence to declare that the story that money stolen in the Northern Bank raid in late 2004 has been laundered through his businesses is "utter nonsense".