O’Neill’s of Suffolk Street

O’Neill’s pub is located in the exact location of what, during the Viking period, was the city’s “Thingmote”, or Parliament. This Thingmote was an earthen mound which stood about 30 metres high and had a circumference of about 80 metres. The mound was used by the Danes as the place where their laws were debated and, when required, enforced.

During the sixteenth century, the Coleman family operated a licensed premises at number 2 Suffolk Street, in addition to being grocer, tea, wine, and spirit dealers. They continued to trade for over a century before the premises was leased by the Hogan brothers. At this time, No 2 was hemmed in between the long-since vanished Royal Arcade Hotel on one side and the Burlington Restaurant on the other. In 1927, the premises took on its current name when the O’Neill family bought the business from the Hogans.