ireland – Complaint Hub

Spectacularly unchanged in sixty years

The Spaniard in Kinsale. If you don’t see the giant colorful mural on the side, not pictured here, I bet a regular in 1966 could walk up in 2026 and not notice a difference, aside from local fashions and modern cars.

A building with dark shingles. The sign reads "The Spaniard" and features a man dressed in what one presumes is centuries old Spanish fashion

And here it is just a few weeks ago.

I kinda new this one would be my favorite as soon as I looked it up online and saw how little it had changed. My one regret is we were short on time and I didn’t have a chance to go inside. I wanted to hand the bartender the printed copy of my grandmother’s photo.

Previous in the series.

Ireland, 1966 to 2026 – this one HAS changed

This one took the help of the good people of Reddit, who found the spot within a few hours even though I think I posted in the middle of the night over in Ireland. Downtown Cork.

Butchered animal carcasses hang in the window of a place called "O'Flynn's". Next door is a clothing store called "Johns"

It has changed quite a bit. I leave the butcher-to-fashion-store jokes as an exercise for the reader.

A Tommy Hilfiger store next to a phone store

Previous post in the series.

Trinity College, 1966 and 2026

Trinity College, unsurprisingly, has not changed a whole lot in 60 years.

A stone building with huge columns out front and a lush grassy field

A big stone building with columns on the front

I’m nearly positive this is the same building, though as you can see the left side has been expanded.

Here’s the previous post in the series.

Bowe’s – 1966 to 2026

Here is the second in the series of photos my grandmother took in 1966 that I have attempted to recreate on our trip in 2026.

A row of buildings. First is PJ Kilmartin, and I think the rest of the sign says "accountant" but not sure. Next is Bowes, #31 (the address). The next building's sign isn't legible — Bowes, Dublin, Ireland, 1966

This one has changed a bit over the years but is still quite recognizable.

A row of buildings. The first one is a bar painted bright red. Next is Bowe's. There is a man with his hand on his head in front of a roll up door beyond Bowe's — Bowes, Dublin, Ireland, 2026

The clock is a nice addition, but the small signs beneath it are not as cool as the old sign.

You grammar pedants can discuss how in both versions, “Bowe’s” is written with an apostrophe on the sign right above the windows but without on the signs higher up. This means something, I’m sure.

Previous post in this series

Ireland – 1966 and 2026

I recently digitized a roll of film my grandmother took on vacation in Ireland in 1966. I can tell she it was her roll and not my grandfather’s because every single one of the photos is shot horizontally EXCEPT a picture of her in front of a waterfall.

In anticipation of our trip to Ireland a few weeks ago, I printed copies of a few of her photos and tried to recreate them. The Where Was This Taken Reddit sub was enormously helpful.

First, this shot of downtown Dublin