MAY 2001
www.celtic-connection.com
Page 19
JOE KOGLER with his daughter Nicola Dunn and his wife Angela run the family-owned and operated Dublin Docks Olde Irish Inn Pub and Restaurant in Port Coquitlam
DUBLIN DOCKS OFF TO A GREAT START
By CATHOLINE BUTLER ANCOUVER -The Dublin Docks Olde Irish Inn, located in Port Coquitlam held its grand opening on March 17.
It was an instant success the minute they opened the doors. The place was packed with an hour long line-up to get in to the day and night-long St. Patrick's celebrations.
The pub is ideally located at the foot of the Pitt River Bridge, where the Mary Hill By-pass and busy Lougheed Highway meet. There is a short road up to the inn with plenty of parking outside. Inside, the main room is spacious with seating for 195 with a small dining room off the pub area where families are welcome.
The traditional Irish decor of the pub features the rich dark wood paneling, hardwood floors, a tastefully painted map of Ireland on the ceiling near the bar area, and many pictures of Irish scenes with stained glass Irish emblems throughout the pub.
The beautiful glasswork was done by local Port Coquitlam artist, Wanda La France. Several televisions are unobtrusively placed throughout the pub to provide viewing sports or news. Another bonus are the clean washrooms.
The Dublin Docks is a family owned and operated business and I recently stopped in for lunch and a chat with owners, Angela and Joe Kogler and their daughter, Nicola Dunn who manages the establishment. I asked Angela Kogler about her background and how she had got into the Irish pub business.
She said, "Well, I'm Belfast-born and emigrated to Australia when I was 21 years old. I worked in a pub there where I met and uiar-
"Our soda bread made daily on the premises is my mother's original recipe from Belfast."
ried my husband Joe. We moved back to Belfast, but my husband who is originally from Austria, was not settled in Ireland, so we moved to Canada.
"We finally settled in Balfour, which is at Kootenay Lake near Nelson, B.C. and we opened a resort there, called the Balfour Beach Inn. When we finally sold that, we moved to Vancouver and bought the Royal Hotel on Granville Street, which we ran for 13 years.
"My husband Joe decided he was going to retire, which lasted for a couple of months and then he bought the Wild Duck Inn which is now the Dublin Docks Olde Irish Inn. We are very pleased with the business to date and I must admit that I've always wanted an Irish pub."
Nicola spoke about plans for the entertainment and said, "we have Celtic flavour type of entertain-
ment but every other week we are featuring different bands with regular Top 40, and older rock and roll because not everyone wants to listen to Irish music every weekend.
"In other words, we're mixing it up a little bit. Some of the groups that we've had to date are, The Madd Celts and Shenannigans. We have an open mike every Sun-da)' with Bruce Coglan who is from the well-known group Tillers Folly.
"Our soda bread made daily on the premises is my mother's original recipe from Belfast. We have traditional and Canadian cuisine on the menu, a little bit of everything. We've just added a traditional Ulster fry breakfast on Sundays, with black pudding, Belfast bacon, Irish sausages, potato bread, soda bread and eggs.
"In three to five years, when we have more money available, we plan to renovate the two top floor bedrooms, so that we can run it as a bed and breakfast, continuing with the same theme as the pub throughout. We have a lot to offer our customers, with some great scenery and a lovely view of the mountains, the river is close by and the Poco Trail runs right beside us."
On any given day or evening, visitors will find members of the large extended family working at the Dublin Docks pub. They are owners Angela and Joe; daughter Nicola who is the manager; daughter Antoinette, assistant manager; son Rory; brother-in-law, Tony Rogan and his brother Jim; son-in-law, Cory Nelson; grandaughter Tamara; and oldest grandaughter Crissy. Be sure to drop in to the Dublin Docks and enjoy the craic and Irish hospitality."
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The Dublin Docks Olde Irish Inn is located at the foot of the Pitt River Bridge at 720 Lougheed Highway in Port Coquitlam. For more information, call (604) 942-7610.
DUBLIN DOCKS OLDE IRISH INN PUB & RESTAURANT
Come in and Experience the famous Irish "Craic"
§* Live music Friday and Saturday evenings 9* Open mike Sunday at 6:30 pm 9f First class Canadian and "Traditional
Irish Cuisine ^•Traditional Ulster Fry on Sundays featuring: Belfast bacon, Irish sausages,
Black pudding, Eggs, Potato bread and Soda bread
720 Lougheed Hwy, Port Coquitlam Where the MaryHill By-pass and Lougheed Hwy meet Located at the foot of the Pitt River Bridge
(604) 942-7610
EST. 1990
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