Hairy Lemon

In the first half of the 20th century, Dublin’s city centre had a number of “street characters” who were noticed and remarked upon for their individuality and perhaps more so their oddness. This was a time when most people had less money, no television and had recently come into a modern state of living. People had to entertain themselves, with a parlour in the front of the house for visitors where singing and playing of musical instruments was practiced for when in company. There was also the Irish wit which in part consisted of gentle jibes which were only meant in good fun. Our Irish elders often fondly look back and refer to this period as “Dublin City in the rare auld times”. There were however a number of stragglers who didn’t move with the times as quickly as the rest.

The “Hairy Lemon” was one of the best known of these. He worked for the council catching stray dogs as in those days all wandering unlicensed dogs were rounded up and Hairy Lemon was one of those who did the catching. He had no fixed address and wore a loose cloth cap and a large scarf around his short neck. In the colder months he wore a raincoat fastened with a straw rope and in the summer months an old tweed jacket. He was frequently on the streets due to his profession so he was well known to see by many. He suffered with jaundice, most likely from the love of the drink and when someone remarked that with his yellowish complexion and the shape of his head and his facial hair that he looked like a hairy lemon, the name seemed to just stick and history was made. Children of the time would shout from a safe distance, “Hairy Lemon, has your mother got any more like you?” There have been television shows such as ”Strumpet City”, songs such as “The Mero” by The Dubliners and works of art which are largely based on individuals like the Hairy Lemon not forgetting that one of today’s best pub and restaurants in Dublin is named after the Hairy Lemon.

Another of Dublin’s well known street characters was called “Forty coats” who was a kind of hobo who wore everything he owned. The children of the time had a kind of game for a bit of excitement and would run past him and shout, “Hey Forty Coats, how many coats are you wearing today”. The aim of the game being to get away without being caught and dealt a swift chastisement.

Yet another of these characters was Known as “Bang Bang”. Bang Bang was traumatized from World War One and was known to wander the streets carrying a large old key which he would point and shoot at people. With this particular activity, he was well liked by children and adults alike for causing fun. Children would point their fingers and shoot back at him and it is said that when Bang Bang would travel by bus or tram that within minutes, inevitably, the whole carriage would be having a shootout with each other with their hands.

These characters are a part of Dublin culture which has formed part of our modern Dublin Irish-ness which you have to come to Dublin to really experience for yourself and there is no better place for great traditional Irish food and drink and “the craic” than the Hairy Lemon pub and restaurant. We look forward to your visit.

My mother started the business in the hairy lemon 20 years ago on the 14 Feb and over the years we’ve been constantly been asked for recipes.