Almost mythic – The Irish Pub
Save your eulogies. They’re not dead yet.
Life in Ireland - What’s it like to run the only pub in the village?
Covid took its best shot and some pubs in Ireland didn’t make it. But one that did is Hurley’s Pub in Ballinspittle, Co. Cork, which is now a town with 359 people and just one pub. There were three before the pandemic.
Hurley’s endured the mother of all disruptions when Ireland’s Department of Health shut down the pub from March to May 2020 and then from October 2020 to May 2021. Now it’s up against something for which there’s no vaccination: Societal Change.
Last pub standing
During the Covid shutdown, the sister of the man who ran Hurley’s before Lester took over was rummaging around its darker corners when she discovered a very old government document proving it was in business in 1864, 20 years after An Gorta Mor, the Great Famine that saw half the population of Ireland die or emigrate. Its story of survival in recent rough seas was told to Noel Sweeney of Echo Live.ie by co-owners Lester and Lindsay Hurley.
“Come five o’clock in the evening, we could have 10, 15 fellas around the bar. Now you might be lucky to get one.” Lester Hurley
“They’ve either passed away or they’ve stopped coming because there’s nobody else here. So it’s really changed. Sunday mornings, we’d open up the door and every barstool would be full. Now you open up the door, you’ll get the tables full, but the bar will stay empty,” said Lester.
Lindsay has observed these changes of recent years at close hand and suggests the digital age and social media have played a part.
“When we were younger, if you didn’t meet at the pub on a Saturday night at 8 o’clock, you missed out. Whereas now, they can Snapchat and watch the whole night’s event from their front room.”
What they’re doing to keep the last pub in Ballinspittle alive is counting on food service, community events, a darts and pool league and gluten free craft beers (in addition to Guinness, Murphys, Beamish and Carlsberg). They’re optimists. You have to be if you’re a pub owner in Ireland (or anywhere for that matter). Bar and restaurant owners there were asked recently about the state of their businesses. Nearly 40% of them expect more customers spending more money this year over last year and the terrible Covid years.
How long Hurley’s will continue to be Ballinspittle’s only pub is up to their son, who just turned 21 and presumably had his first legal drink at Hurley’s.
“Part of me thinks it would be great if he kept it going, the other part says, ‘Go get a proper job’. He sees the hours we put in. It’s not easy,” said Lester.
“Don’t drink alone and don’t drink at home.”
If everybody had taken Billy Keane’s advice, the Irish Pub wouldn’t be defending its life.
He’s the son of the man who wrote The Field, basis of a 1990 Oscar-nominated Richard Harris movie set in the West of Ireland. Before John’s successes as a writer, he and his wife ran John Keane’s Pub in Listowel, Co. Kerry, which his son Billy now runs. I heard Billy give that advice during an interview on RTE Radio in 1994. “That’s a pub owner talking,” I thought.
Ten years ago, Keane was one of the publicans featured in a documentary called The Irish Pub. Partly financed by the Irish government, it had some small success. No awards or anything like that. But it got good word of mouth. “A lovingly laid-back documentary about the charms, liquid and otherwise, of the traditional Irish watering hole,” one critic wrote.
Laid back it is. Ten years on it seems more than ever like a eulogy. A long death notice for a dying enterprise. The funny thing is, many of the pubs featured are still in business. One has pivoted to drag queen appearances and Pride events. Some teamed up to recruit customers through organized Irish Pub tours.
So, take the lamentations with a shot of Paddy’s. Just as there will always be an Ireland, there will always be The Irish Pub.
Further Reading and Viewing
The Irish Pub is widely available on streaming services. Free (with commercials).
The EchoLive.ie article by Noah Sweeney is available here. Here’s another article he wrote about a pub in Co. Cork that closed on June 8 after 300 years.