Artisan Parlour & Grocery Launch

Actor Aidan Gillen joins Venetia Quick and Martin Thomas at the launch of their Artisan Parlour & Grocery in Ringsend Village. Photo: Peter Houlihan

Actor Aidan Gillen joins Venetia Quick and Martin Thomas at the launch of their Artisan Parlour & Grocery in Ringsend Village.
Photo: Peter Houlihan

Artisan Parlour & Grocery had their official launch in Ringsend on 8th October.

It has been open for a few weeks and has already become a much talked about and welcome addition to the village. It certainly drew a crowd and many of Dublin’s famous and beautiful showed up to support proprietors Martin Thomas and his wife Venetia Quick.

The place was buzzing when we arrived and the atmosphere was more like a family gathering than a business launch – the Parlour’s stated aim of offering the best of Irish produce at very reasonable prices in as relaxed a setting as possible seems to have worked.

“Game Of Thrones” star Aiden Gillen was there to wind down from shooting on his latest film “Sing Street”. When asked what brought him to Artisan Parlour, he said “It’s all about good food and good company”. This was echoed by Antonia Campbell-Hughes. The well-known and soon to be very famous actress took the chance to grab a snack and relax, before heading back to London where she is currently based. Diarmuid Gavin has long been a champion of Ringsend and says he will be supporting the eatery in any way he can.

Diarmuid Gavin and Padraic White at the launch. Photo: Peter Houlihan

Diarmuid Gavin and Padraic White at the launch.
Photo: Peter Houlihan



For locals Martin and Venetia, Ringsend is where the heart is. They have created an oasis in the middle of the village that is drawing people who work in the large offices over the bridge. In fact “bring them over the bridge” has been something of a mantra for Martin who sees new business coming into the area as essential for the community on the whole. Venetia was there in a dual capacity of course: she’s one of the stars of the RTE reality series Connected and was there with her ever-present TV cameras. However, even their presence didnt stop people letting their hair down and gorging on the delicious food and fine wine that never seemed to end.

By Steve Kingston