THE UNFRIENDLY BARMAN

When Sergeant Doyle was sent with a number of men to seize J T Davy's Public House on Portobello Bridge, their objective was to prevent British Army reinforcements being deployed from the barracks in Rathmines. One of the men with Doyle was James Joyce (no relation to the writer) and he would invaluable to the mission as he worked in JT Davy's as a barman/porter. Joyce was on his last warning at work as he kept on taking days off to go training with the Volunteers. He had not appeared for work on Easter Monday and when he entered the bar Davy confronted him and told him that he was not going to out up with his absenteeism any longer and that he was sacked to which Joyce replied 'an you my friend have ten seconds to vacant this premises'. Davy refused initially to leave his pub but Joyce levelled his Mauser pistol at the large mirror behind the bar and fired. Davy and the remaining customers left. What happened next is one of the most amazing stories of the 1916 Easter Rising and will be explained exclusively on board the tour.