Pubs and legislation has changed. At the turn of the last century (1900s) people could open their front room as a small pub. So while a small village might have

Pubs and legislation has changed. At the turn of the last century (1900s) people could open their front room as a small pub. So while a small village might have 30 pubs few of them were Inns - the large pubs that we are used to. Ireland kept the small room longer than England - they still exist in the west. While a front room with beer on sale may not be our modern idea of a 'pub' it would have figured in James Joyce's quote.