Editorial Review
Nicky's Plaice
We hold no photograph of this room we can publish honestly. Words instead.
The Atmosphere
“Family run on the Howth West Pier since 1959, with the boats visible from the door.”
Nicky's has been on the West Pier at Howth since 1959, and the third generation runs it now. The boats tie up a hundred yards away, which is why the crab claws and the smoked haddock here are better than anything you will find in the city centre. Howth is thirty minutes from Dublin on the DART, which makes this the easiest fishing harbour in Ireland to reach without a car, and the pier is the right place to eat what you buy.
The long version
Three generations on Howth's West Pier, the boats close enough to see from the counter, and the easiest fishing harbour in Ireland to reach without a car.
The DART pulls into Howth station and the harbour is a two-minute walk downhill, gulls working the air over the pier before you have even reached the water. Nicky's sits on the West Pier itself, close enough to the moorings that the fishing boats which supplied the counter that morning are usually still tied up within sight of the shop door.
It has been run by the same family since 1959, now into its third generation, and the shop has the unfussy, slightly worn look of a business that has never needed to update its appearance to prove anything to anyone. A queue for cooked crab claws forms most weekend afternoons, locals and day-trippers standing together without much distinction between them.
“Three generations, one pier, and the shortest chain from boat to counter within reach of Dublin.”
What is on the counter
Cooked crab claws are the reason most people stop here, sold ready to eat and best carried straight out to the pier wall rather than saved for later. Smoked haddock is the other standout, and both benefit from a supply chain that runs from boat to counter in a matter of hours rather than days.
This is about as short a chain from catch to plate as exists within reach of Dublin, and it shows in a directness of flavor that a city-centre fishmonger, however good, cannot always match.
The hour that matters
Late morning to early afternoon, after the boats have landed and before the pier gets crowded with the cliff-walk traffic heading out for the afternoon. Buy the crab claws here first, eat them on the pier wall, and only then set off on the walk.
Weekends bring more foot traffic off the DART, so a weekday visit gives a quieter version of the same experience, though the counter's stock is much the same either way.
Who it suits
Anybody based in Dublin without a car, since the DART makes this the single easiest fishing harbour experience to reach from the city, roughly thirty minutes each way. It suits a half-day trip built around the cliff walk, with lunch handled entirely by this one counter and a bench on the pier.
It does not suit anyone hoping for a sit-down restaurant experience. This is a takeaway counter, and the seating is a pier wall and whatever weather Howth is having that day.
What we would not pretend
This is a takeaway fish shop, not a restaurant, and Irish coastal weather does not always cooperate with the plan to eat on the pier wall. Have a backup in mind if it is raining, and do not expect table service.
How we would use it
A half-day from Dublin by DART: crab claws at Nicky's, eaten on the West Pier, followed by the Howth Cliff Walk in the afternoon and the train back before dark.
Rooms Worth Requesting
What it actually feels like.
Take the DART to Howth, buy cooked crab claws, and eat them on the pier. Do the cliff loop afterwards.
Why we recommend it
A space that justifies the journey.
Three generations, one pier, and the shortest chain from boat to counter within reach of Dublin. The cooked crab claws alone justify the DART fare.