There has been a tavern on this site since 1868 when local farmer Nicholas Carolan allowed his son Thomas to build a licensed premises cum grocery on part of his agricultural holding of St. Edmunds. The seascape of Clontarf at that time was spoiled by the presence of an ugly sea wall and muddy foreshore, a pattern that was echoed in some rather unsavoury looking local thatched dwellings.
In 1950 Tipperaryman Michael Tobin paid £23,500 for this old hostelry – a figure that received national publicity at that time. In later years Michael was joined in the business
by son Richard, an avid thespian, who along with his wife,
Deirdre Scott-Lennon, undertook a wondrous maritime-style refurbishment here in the early 1990s. very distinctly carries the imprint of the O’Malley standard.
Clontarf is familiar to Irishmen everywhere from its association with the defeat of the Vikings by Brian Boroimhe in 1014. The name – the Plain of the Bull- derives from the rumbling noise The bellowing sound however is heard no longer, as the construction of the North and South Walls completely changed the environment.