John Kavanagh The Gravediggers has always had and still has a close relationship with the living and dead of Glasnevin and Dublin. Our
neighbors are at most a peaceful lot... after all it’s the living we’ve to fear not the Dead.

Digging a grave is hard and thirsty work. When the Old Gate on Prospect Square closed it had a huge impact on the bars revenue. It also
impacted on the humble Gravediggers access to Porter! So, before the days of mechanical diggers, and when Morse –Code was still a form of communication; the humble gravedigger welcomed working at the Botanical or Prospect end of the cemetery where John Kavanagh’s shared a boundary wall. When ‘The Want’ for something to quench a thirst hit a Gravedigger, a quick knock on this shared wall with his large shovel would herald a creamy Pint of Porter being deposited on the railings. A simple code one knock of one, two knocks for two.

After a workday, weary Gravediggers strolling down the old coach road would stop into the bar for a Pint before heading home. From the 1980s onwards and with the building of an Industrial Estate nearby other work folk found the pub. The humble Gravedigger was no longer alone, these clerical and blue collar workers naturally would declare, I’m off to the Gravediggers at the end of a day’s work and John Kavanagh’s The Gravediggers is how we are now affectionately known.

In this new age the work of the humble Gravedigger has changed from a man and a shovel to a mechanical digger that can do the work of
three. They still come to the pub and mingle with the other customers. All are welcome at John Kavanagh The Gravediggers.