Often called London’s oldest Irish pub, the Tipperary on Fleet Street, shut since December 2020, was due to reopen to customers on 21 March. I was lucky enough to have a tour of the closed pub in early February and heard about the exciting plans for its refurbishment and reopening. The beer selection would include cask ales, although there was no confirmation of how many handpumps will be added.
The freeholders, Dominus Fleet Street Limited, who plan to operate the pub, had applied to the City of London for a premises licence and a decision was pending. There were however no objections. Dominus also own the land and buildings surrounding the pub and a nearby hotel. The first phase of the reopening will be the ground floor bar. There are plans for two snugs either side of the bar counter and they hope to get the original dumbwaiter behind the bar working again. The pub needs a lot of work, having been boarded up since it closed. Sadly the front of the building has suffered water damage, which extends to all floors and the wooden panelling and the ceilings at the front of the building are badly damaged.
Claims the Tipperary is ‘the oldest Irish pub in London’ are difficult to check. J G Mooney and Co Ltd, a Dublin spirit merchants, purchased what was then the Boar’s Head pub at 66 Fleet Street in the late 19th century and the pub traded as Mooney’s Irish House until at least the late 1960s. They also owned pubs in Ireland, including the Parnell Mooney (now trading as Parnell Heritage pub & grill) and Abbey Mooney (now closed) in Dublin. The pub’s Irish heritage is evident above the narrow bar counter with ‘failte’ (welcome) and ‘slainte’ (health) signs carved above the wooden bar and shamrock tiling on the floor and wooden panelling throughout.
There are two beautiful etched mirrors, ‘The Stout’ – a Guinness mirror with ‘J G Mooney’ signage – and ‘The Whisky’ – ‘finest quality only John Jameson and John Power’ – which are believed to date from around 1895. Note the spelling ‘whisky’ (Scottish), not ‘whiskey’ (Irish). In March 2021 someone tried to take the mirrors out of the Grade II-listed pub to sell them and ‘The Whisky’ mirror now has a large crack. Luckily a passer-by alerted CAMRA and the City of London’s planning enforcement team and the mirrors were saved. In May 2022 the pub was granted Asset of Community Value status by the City of London, which gives the pub some protection from redevelopment, including change of use applications, for five years. The pub previously rated three stars on CAMRA’s list of historic pub interiors but another inspection may be needed soon.
There are plans to convert the first floor into a whiskey bar. The new operators also plan to refurbish the kitchen on the third floor and the manager’s flat on the upper floor. In the longer term, plans include an Irish centre at the back of the building adjacent to the pub, which will hold regular traditional Irish music sessions. An area in the basement of the pub will also be reserved for live music. The reopening of The Tipperary will be a major boost for Fleet Street. The newspapers and journalists have long moved out but the area is adapting and some of the pubs even open at weekends!
The full address is 66 Fleet Street EC4Y 1HT.
Joanne Scott (who also took the photos)