Searsons' History

The Searson name is well known in the pub and wine trade in Ireland, largely due to the successful Searsons public houses in Upper Baggot Street, South Richmond Street (Portobello), and Blackrock. The publican branch of the Searson family hail from Garretts Mill, Killea in North Tipperary.

The company's records detail Charles Searson's 1926 purchase of the buildings, stock and goodwill of J & T Davy's business in Portobello, established in 1805. The sale of this premises by the cousins Eugene and James Davy completed the withdrawal of the Davy family from the very traditional high-class grocery and bar trade established in the 19th century by James and Thomas Davy. Other Davy branches at numbers 2, 8, and 42 and 44 Upper Baggot Street were acquired by Charles Searson earlier in the 1920s. The branch at 111 Upper Leeson Street was bought by Patrick (Pat) Kelly, another former Davy employee.

It was customary for serious publicans to ship wine in bulk and bottle in the local market. The low, damp cellars at Portobello Bridge were a hive of activity with the conditioning and bottling of ale and stout, the blending and bottling of whiskey and the fining and bottling of wines. Around this time, it was not unusual to see barrels of Martini & Rossi vermouth being transferred from cask to bottle in Searsons' cellar.

In the 1930s Searsons Licensed premises at Portobello was a well-known source of estate and Dublin bottled wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. Only a few years ago, Charles Rousseau of the legendary Burgundy producer Armand Rousseau unearthed a record dating back to the 1930's, detailing Charles Searson as his first export customer in the difficult years post World War I.

In the years following Charles's death in 1949, his sons Noel and Frank, the middle brothers in a family of seven boys and two girls, were given the responsibility of running the family pub business in Portobello at a remarkably young age. Frank soon discovered his true metier, becoming the driving force behind the wine side of the business under the trading name of Searson Bros.

Frank Searson's passion and expertise in the fine wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy lead him to build an extraordinary portfolio of wines from the world's leading producers. Over time, the wine side of the business grew to a self-sustaining level. In the early 1960's, Searson Bros. were the first wine merchants in Ireland to offer en-primeur wines, with the legendary 1961 Bordeaux vintage.

In 1977 Frank moved to his own premises in Monkstown, where he set up a specialist wine shop and showroom. His elder son Charles was about 13 at the time and was tasked with the cleaning and maintenance of the stores. While in secondary school and college, he earned pocket money assisting in the shop and on deliveries.

The 1980s saw Searsons taking the brave step of introducing Italian fine wines onto the Irish market. To this day, Italian wines remain a key part of Searsons' portfolio. Following what can only be described as a scenic route through college, Charles entered the business in full-time in 1990. This coincided with an exciting period of rapid expansion in the Irish wine trade as more and more Irish consumers discovered a taste for wine. Searsons were able to expand and broadened their list with a range of Spanish and New World wines.

Frank Searson retired from an extraordinary career in the wine business in 2004, passing the mantle on to Charles, who is now tasked with the maintenance and development of this long-established, fiercely independent, passionate and driven wine business.