Lincoln's Inn will call last orders for the final time tonight after 76 years as one of Dublin¿s oldest and best loved pubs.
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Lincoln's Inn
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From 11.30 a.m. regulars gathered to make the most of the pub's last day, and by 5 p.m the bar area was heaving as locals toasted the end of an era.
From about 4.30 p.m this evening procuring a pint became a long protracted affair as the bar staff struggled to satisfy the demands of punters anxious to have a final drink in one of Dublin's great institutions.
Mr Niall Whelan who has worked behind the bar for 18 years told ireland.comthat the pub would be greatly missed: "some of our regulars have been coming here for 30 years and it's a sad day for them. And me too," he said.
Lincoln's Inn, in Lincoln Place behind Trinity College, has been a watering-hole for Trinity students and lecturers since 1926.
Before it became the Lincoln, the premise was the home of Finn's Hotel, where James Joyce's wife Nora Barnacle was working in June 1904 when she first met the writer.
The closure has been forced because Trinity College, which owns the building, has bought back the leasehold interest "to facilitate some reorganising", according to Mr Tim Cooper, director of buildings at TCD. However, it plans to reopen the pub as soon as possible, he said.
Ganly Walters, the estate agents handling the lease, has expressed its confidence that the listed status of the buildings can be dealt with "creatively". "There is a strong desire to see the pub reopen, perhaps in an extended form," said Mr Paul McDowell.
The feeling amongst customers this evening, however is that even if the building is reopened as a pub, the atmosphere of this traditional and friendly inn will be hard to recapture.