Stories of the Four Courts

The new Lounge Bar at the legendary Four Courts Hotel, Inns Quay, as it appeared in the Irish Independent of 19 October 1940.

The accompanying write-up describes the hotel as

‘the favoured rendezvous of many whose name and fame have passed into history… a landmark second only to Nelson Pillar… Within its confines eminent judges relaxed; brilliant legal advocates sojourned, and tired jurors discussed – in whispers – the pros and cons of many great trials.’

Seductive words, and one famous wordsmith who may have been seduced by them was poet Paddy Kavanagh, who, despite living only a half-hour’s stroll away, chose to stay at the Four Courts Hotel during his unsuccessful libel proceedings against the Leader in the 1950s…