Original subtitles

And we'll start another day

very good

oh yeah, Murphy's here, now, sound out

no problem at all, boys, thanks John, thanks

there's a snug there, on this side,

and there's a snug on that side

and these snugs, in the olden times,

were used for ladies to drink in

and as well as match-making

The fathers of the bride-to-be or the groom-to-be

would come in and sort out

what the dowry was going to be

it could be a little bit of money

and it could be a hen or a sheep or something

The people getting married weren't there at all

just the fathers and the mothers

they discussed the deeds

in every pub in Dingle, I'd say

there are old marriage arrangements

wrote down in every pub

and they made out a document

and it was signed by both people

that there would so much money involved

and there was money involved in every match

And my aunt, who would be in her 90s now

she remembers it actually going on

and she said that you would stay outside

and if the match went ahead

there would be a celebration

and you might get a biscuit or an apple

not a glass of Champagne.

well, there was no seating at the counter

no stools, up until the 50s

well, maybe in the cities but

not down in the towns

and it wasn't etiquette for

a lady to stand at the bar

and have a drink.

it was frowned on

so that's what these snugs were

the lady went in, or a husband and wife

went into the snug or else into the lounge

but never at the bar

until the end of the 50s

and then they were allowed

Ladies kinda didn't, it was terrible discrimination

when you think about it, but

if a man came in with his wife,

she went to the snug and she might have her little sherry

and he might be at the bar, y'know?

that's the way it was in those times

y'know I'm going back to the start of the century

ah yeah, a lot of famous characters

drank in there down through the years

Michael Collins, was, I believe,

I would've heard stories when I was very young

was a regular in there

And people loved to come in

and have a conversation about some serious matter

and just close the little shutters off

and have it.

and that's what the snugs...

and the seats are so narrow

you sat up straight as well

there was no crouching

There was a president of Ireland, actually

was asked to,

by Dick Spring, he was a politician

and John Rodgers, a senior council

they got together in there with Mary Robinson

one evening and they asked her

would she run for president

so there's a little plaque in there

to commemorate that

and she ended up president

yeah, would you like some snuff?

Morning, how are you Percy?

How are ye?

ah, not too bad at all

and here it has always been an important

place for horse trading

and I remember when I was young

I was only 15 or 16

there was a lot of pretty successful horses

around here at the time

and there was a lot of bets pulled off

good luck!

so I remember walking in there one day, and

there was the brother of a very famous trainer

and it was the day before one of the big classics

I think the Derby or the Guineas, in England

and, unsuspecting, I walked in

to the middle of a group of men

expecting to get them another drink

and he had a load of envelopes

and everybody stopped, everybody looked

I looked at Fonzi and Fonzi looked at me

go away for a few minutes - right, sorry

It's unusual, we've a pub on one side

and we've a grocery on the other side

we've petrol pumps just here to my left

funeral home further down

so we're trying to cater for everything

it's an old traditional pub, and that's

the way we run it, we've the grocery on one side

we wouldn't make a big profit on the grocery

we still are selling as much ham today

as we were 20 years ago

We're a shop really, we're a grocery

I suppose as all rural places started off

you're a shop, general merchant,

I think the old term is general store,

you have your bar in one building

we have a grocery hardware,

a food market hardware, adjacent to this

and a jack of all trades and master of none

and we do undertaking

which would be synonymous with

the bar business

We're also undertakers and have been

for 5 generations as well

so I'm the current undertaker in town

this is the parish priest, Tom Breen

Tomas O'Briain

Tomas O'Briain

Speaks Irish

and we've got a barter system going

he gets a lot of money in the church

and I have to get a lot of change

so he brings the change in to me

I give him cash, cut out the middle man

banks don't like it

I don't get an awful lot of money in the church

but they're very good to me really

he does actually get an awful lot of money in the church

his chauffeur is outside waiting for him

This pub is one of the most

unique pubs in Dingle

it's got a lot of history to it

it has never changed in any way

inside, in the premises itself

and outside is the same

and I try to keep everything the same as it was

that's one of my traditions myself

keep things as they were

there's enough of things changing in the world

the whole world is changing

the whole of Dingle is changing

which is ruining it

and we'll try to keep it the same as it was

myself.

All I've heard from people that come in here is

'oh don't change it, don't change it'

It's really, like, embedded in me

and often times I can feel 'oh God'

I need to give it a complete overhaul

and then you think 'this is what makes it what it is'

It is an old pub, it is hundreds of years old

why would you change it?

y'know, there's too many things changing in life

look at the stone floor there now

and all the new pubs and that now

are puttin' in stone floors there

yeah, that's a flag floor

and it's here as long as this building is built

so it's never changed

albeit's rockier and it's unlevel

and you'd have to watch your step walking on it

but it is here over 200 and 30 or 40 years old

you'd be alright coming in but

you have to watch yourself going out

that is so true

can I get a pint off you?

yeah, no bother, Danno

Back in the 60s they were tearing some of the

most beautiful pubs in this city apart

I was told this story, Liam passed this on to me

Bill, my grandfather at the time,

people were saying to him, Bill,

would you not move with the times?

you're going to be left behind, y'know

they were basically putting carpet on the floor

and Formica on the counters

taking away the snug, the partitions

and the old mirrors, y'know?

so Bill was really upset about this, y'know?

what am I going to do here, like, y'know?

what, what, y'know?

so one day he went for a walk

and he went up to Ryan's, another fine,

beautiful, Victorian pub

and, em, the boss man was there himself

Bongo Ryan, as he was known

Bill ordered a drink, and he says to Bongo, he says

are you modernising? and Bongo says NO

and he says, well I'm not either

and the 2 of them shook hands

and to this day, Ryans and the Palace bar

stand as they were back in those days, y'know

they haven't changed

and now they have preservation orders on them

which is great

This is as it was

built in 1800s ... and it's Colombian pine floor

and the woodwork is all Colombian pine

there is a lot of stuff here that has collected over the years

for the future generations

to see what life was like, like

and what the ... because

with the advent of all the technology now and everything

and they think everything will be

stainless steel or plastic

and it's just the character

just the memory of the people who went before us

just to keep the continuity

The younger generation will never know

what real pubs were like

and this

which we're lucky enough to have kept

they can't get over it, and

we don't have no TV, no music

just conversation

and it has started off now with the surfers

they love because they can come in

and thrash out what they did wrong

and what they didn't do wrong

and they love when there's no music

or anything like that

to annoy their conversation

Well, it's kind of an oasis now

unfortunately, because the whole area has changed

I mean, because there's all office blocks

and tower blocks everywhere

and in the 60s there was the theatre Royal

which was across the road

and we had the Irish Press next door

and it was always very very busy

during the day

and before that it was the docklands

and we used to get all the dockers in

and it was just non-stop drinking in those days, y'know?

early morning, we weren't an early house but

as soon as you opened the doors

Da would tell ye, from 10:30 onwards

it was busy, constantly busy, y'know?

so, em, now it's office crowd

it's students, it's workers

it's a good mix of everything

which is the main thing, y'know?

and they all come for the pint of Guinness

which we have a reputation for

being the best pint of Guinness in Dublin

which obviously means the best pint of Guinness anywhere

so we have a high reputation

it's consistently very very good

and every now and again I do sample it myself

just to make sure, quality control, y'know?

so, cheers!

ah, tastes like more, as they say

What's the secret in a good pint?

pull it...so far

and let it settle and then put a head on it

good creamy top

but you're the same, always kept a good pint

Now, Danno, thanks very much

well it's great Guinness alright, but

when Niamh is here it doesn't be good at all

always a great pint here

that's ok, we're well used to each other

oh, I like honesty, that's ok

ah, we do be always having the craic here

Well, we're here in John B Keane's bar in Listowel

which was given to me by my dad about 20 years ago

as he had enough of it himself

working behind the bar and trying to write

himself and my mother bought it in 1955

Dad came home from England

spared up his money and got a loan from the bank

and the two of them, she was a hairdresser,

and the two of them set it up

and we've been here since

it's a great little bar

not the biggest bar in Ireland but

people think it is because of the name outside the door

the price of drink went up 10c the other day

and the customers were complaining and whinging

so I said I'd give them free drink for the night

if one of them could tell me

the price of a sliced pan of bread

not one of them knew the price, they guessed

and guessed and they got it all wrong

to be honest I didn't know the price either

but this fella, Sean Moriarty

started all the trouble, so I said "Sean,

there you are, you know the price of a pint of Guinness

but you don't know the price of the staple of life

the very staple of life, bread"

and he says "I don't, Billy

but then again,

I wouldn't eat 7-8 sliced pans every night, would I?"

The worst one used to be, not that many years ago

you had to close between, of a Sunday

you had to close between 2 and 4

that was the hardest one because everyone

would come up and they'd double-up on their drinks

that was always the sweetest drink, in any pub

was the one after hours

or the one you got on a good Friday

they are the sweetest ones

the best one that was ever told about 2 o'clock of a Sunday

and 4 o'clock was

this wife, the husband was coming home

coming home around 5 or 6 o'clock

and she said, that's the last time you're going to do this

the pub closes at 2, you're coming home at 5

your dinner will be in the bin next Sunday

if you're not here at 2 o'clock

he comes home the next Sunday at half 5

where's me dinner? it's in the bin

so he gets her by the scruff of the neck

opens the door, gives her one good kick up the arse

lands her in the middle of the street

and who's walking down only the PP (Parish Priest)

and he says "Father, I'll make sure she goes to mass

every other Sunday"

Old lock-ins, there was always them

it used to be a big offence,now, after hours and that

there was a big raid here one year

think they done 3 pubs in the town the same night

the place was full here

but everyone escaped out the back

at the time it was a major crime to be caught in a pub

I think they caught 5 people that night

we used to have hens out the back

there was a vicious rooster

but one of the fellas went in and hid in the hen-house

but the rooster never made a sound

the Guards never checked in the hen-house

and the boys reckoned the next day

that your man had the rooster by the throat

that's why there was no noise out of the shed

because the rooster would normally kick up a racket

he wasn't caught, but there was 5 other people

caught that night

I think the fine at the time was a fiver or something

but it was a big thing around the town at the time

sure, nobody passes any remarks at that anymore

nobody passes any remarks

I suppose the Irish pub more so than English pubs

is just the sense of humour and

y'know? the Irish, they have a great sense of humour

personally from me, anyway, I'm not a TV addict or anything

do y'know? and I like to come out and meet people

my neighbours and that, and have a chat

I don't come for the drink really

I'd have a drink,

but it's for the chat I come

It's for when they have nowhere to go

they don't get around much anywhere

it's terribly important to me

because I come down here and have a chat

a few nights a week, have a drink

very important for me because

I'm not interested in TV

I'd be sitting at home looking at the wall

A pub is a social outing, so it is

where people come to relax

and spend time and settle down

look at your man

it's unique because the pub in Ireland

everybody comes to meet in the pub

everybody says hello to their friends

sorry, how are ye, Frankie? Great game

class game...magic...wasn't it?

class, class...but, em

ask me that question again

You go into a pub abroad

they'd nearly ignore you

you go into a pub in Ireland and

they'd go up in your arse to find out who you are

name, address and number before you'd nearly get a drink

y'know, where you're from and who you are

and if you're evasive at all

they'll keep asking you questions

you might as well just put your credentials

up on the counter when you go in

save a lot of trouble

that's what I notice with them here anyway

there was a man here one day and he was

fairly inquisitive and

he was sitting over the far side there and

this stranger came in, I don't know who it was

your man called me over anyway and

I went over and said "what's up?"

he said "who's that?"

I just turned around and says to your man

"hey, will you tell this fella who you are,

he wants to know"

your man says "no I don't, no I don't"

I says "what the hell else did you call me out for?"

you should see the face going red on your man

he never asked me again

I'd say myself, that

Carmel and her husband, Lord have mercy on him, Jim

they regarded the customers as an extended family

and the staff were

they'd do anything for the staff

and the staff would do anything for them

yeah, we're kinda like family, yeah

Your customer is your friend

your customer is your family

basically

and you get to know every one of them

and they know you so well

it's whatever Pete says, or Pete doesn't say

he was quoted in a lot of things

it would be better if he kept his mouth closed

There's people come in to me

for a drink, and I get talking to them

and they'll stay for the night

just to be talking

maybe that's the bit of charm I have

I can talk to people

and relax people

and that's all they want

and maybe sing a song.

I suppose the history of this pub dates back to 1840

originally the building was a grain-store

I'll be the 4th generation

hopefully the kids will be the 5th

if we stick it out

my great-grandfather turned it into a pub,

shop, grocery, feed-store, machinery,

everything went on here at the time

I suppose through bad times, good times, whatever

I came back from Dublin in 92

and started chipping the plaster away from the building

as things were quiet, or whatever, so

I restored it by hand over X amount of years

and probably not finished yet, if the truth is told, but

it's been good to me in ways

we've had good years and bad years, tough years, whatever

the pub trade is tough at the moment

but look at it, it's a vocation

what I find is very important

I like going in to family run business's

I find that there's a connection of respect

and of hard work ethic, and you need a hard work ethic

to survive within the pub trade, or whatever

Rory, will you get out of the way please, good boy

it just brings a little togetherness within

and I feel people feed off that

if they feel more secure within themselves

or if they're in that sort of work place

boys and girls, now, just move out of the way

I came back here in the early 90s and I have to say

the trade here was very, very, very poor

for various reasons, it was just a combination

of my parents being old and not interested in the pub

so it picked up from me

and I've gone full circle

where it's gone probably back quiet again-ish

due to the economy and due to me

losing a little bit of sparkle or bite

and I'm getting re-energised again

and hopefully, if I can get my energy back into it

that hopefully it'll pick up again.

The pub's name is O'Shaughnessy's pub

and it's affectionately known as The Captain's

and the captain, he was my father

and he inherited the pub in 1952

after his brother died

and he was an eccentric man, my father, really

because he closed his pub at 6 o'clock in the evening

he never opened after 6 o'clock

and they all knew that

and they all left quietly at 6 o'clock

so I'm keeping the tradition going and

I feel I'm only caretaking it for him

I said to him "when you die" and I said

"Dad", I said, "the name is over the door now" says I

"and it'll be there when I'm going."

a lot of the stuff here has been left in by

locals and by people who were interested in the pub

and had no more use for them

that's actually the confessional

from the church, that's the original piece

there, the confessional from the church.

of all the pieces and trinkets

that were given into the pub

this actually wasn't given

however, there's an amazing story behind this piece

this is from the penal laws in Ireland

and it's an alter from when

there was religious persecution in Ireland

and it was forbidden that they say mass in churches

and the priest went to the houses

and to private places or in woods, whatever

to say mass for the locals

and this was what they call a travelling alter

and it's, everything is original in it

it hinges down like that

and the crucifix is here

and the paten for when you receive the holy communion

and there was a little alter cloth

an amazing little alter cloth

all original, these were all inside

back from the 1800s

it's all embroidered, t'is beautiful

and there's the original spoon for the holy oils

Well, I don't know, they must've been there for years

probably my grandparents got them

and they were up there

the one that's most popular is this one

here with the Mitchell's whisky

because it has 2 lovely views

one of Howth and the other one of Ireland's Eye

there's one mistake there, we think it is anyway

Ireland's Eye, as people know it, but it's Irelad's

that's written on it

so I'd say there's something about that

Howth head, I think it's Roches store in Dublin

one of them had called one time

his home, he said, was on that

so he would love to buy the mirror

but the mirror is there that long it's not for sale

And as a matter of fact

the people that made Ryan's Daughter, Faraway Productions

they were the crowd that done it

they tried to buy the floor of the pub off my father

and they wanted to put it in the pub, in Ryan's pub

in the famous Kirrary village

which is Ryan's Daughter

and my father says the floor is there before him

and it'll be there after him, it wouldn't be moved

Ah, I suppose there's a lot of stuff

we have an old jersey up there

that a man up the road was knocked unconscious in 1963

he was 9 days unconscious

and they literally couldn't get the jersey off him

for 9 days, because of his head swelling, whatever

and the blood stain is still on the jersey.

We have different bits and pieces, we have

a camogie All Ireland winning team,

we have a dog here, wearing glasses and smoking a pipe,

we've an All Ireland minor winning jersey,

we've an old can of Fanta, a box of Calvita cheese,

I have my own grandmother's day-books

where she used to book-keep.

They're alright 'til you have to dust them

that's when they just become a pain

and then people bringing in various bits...

there's some old trap there, that came from

I think it was America that came from

all the way, and there's tongs over there in the corner

they came from Canada, nice tongs

just people do bring in bits and pieces

just to add to the stuff

then when you go to paint the place

or do it up at all, you take everything down

then you don't know where half it goes back

so there's boxes of stuff lying about the place as well

you'd be wondering how it all fitted up in the first place

Flick on the lights, Brida,

I've a nice collection of old stuff,

Roscommon and Galway hurler we have signed

we have an old Bulmer's bottle, old Guinness bottles

Locke's Whisky, old clocks

we have a variety of stuff, I suppose

it's a combination of stuff, and I have

a lot more stuff to show off because

I have a good combination of stuff

and I'm hoping to develop the pub more

God willing, or help of God, or whatever

I'd like to progress it and maybe

develop it into being a little bit bigger

and a little more progressive, and

a little bit more attractive for people to come in to.

That's going to take work but I'm looking

forward to the challenge and the help of God.

We always had stuff hanging out of the ceiling there

and when people came in, strangers especially

tourists, they'd always have their head up in the air

looking at the stuff on the ceiling

and trying to identify it

sometimes there might be an odd wellington hanging

there, and they'd be looking for the other wellington

they always had a bit of a laugh

about that stuff up there

Another bit of history

the bar on the front door

I'll show you this, I'll bring up this close

the bar on the front door

there's a bend in it

the bar was burst in, in the year of the black and tans

they drove the vehicle through the door

and they bent the bar on the door

and the bar on the door is still there

we'll leave it there

Yeah, the picture in the background here

is a picture of Scythe

it was John B's first play

it was written in 1958

it was a story about a young girl who was

being married off to a far older man

very much against her wishes

and she ran away in the middle of the night

and she was drowned

and they're lamenting her, there's a song

called The Scythe Song

For they murdered lovely Scythe

for she would not be a bride

and they laid her dead to bury in the clay

unfortunately I can't sing because

God takes something away from everyone

otherwise I'd be perfect

Oh, Jimmy?

Jimmy is one of the top characters in the town

closet opera singer,

a wit,

quiet man

spent a lot of time at sea

retired, comes from an old Athlone family

that pose suits him to a tee

likes a glass of lager

that was in the good old days when he could smoke

we sort of have an arrangement

that he imbibes at little or no cost

which I don't mind, or my wife, we never mind about

which was our, sort of, we started it maybe

I just informed him recently

after 19 to 20 years in the place

that if he's making a will, to remember me

and he was wondering why

I just said a small matter of about 12-13 thousand Euros

or whatever

y'know? after my doing my quick maths

like, I don't think he got the point anyway, so

there's very little hope of me getting it ever

not that I want it or anything like that

one of the nicest little pub ever I was in

Well, there was great characters coming in here

as they say in Kerry, there was gas men coming in here

there's one man, he's still here

he was in England all his life

he reared a big family and worked hard

he lived to be 88, and he used to drink sitting over there

and he said...he used to wear a leather hat

that one of the lads brought back from Australia

and he said, Finucane, when I die

hang that hat over where I sit

and every pint that's drank, I'll drink it with him

so I have the hat hanging

it's hanging up there today in his memory, so

It wouldn't happen, and if somebody

was sitting in his seat, I'd move them

if they came in, politely of course

but I think anybody local would automatically get up

automatically when Danno would come in

and they would know that it's his seat

even people that wouldn't drink here regularly

but might come in now and again, would know

that that's Danno's seat

yeah, if someone came in and sat down, y'know, I'd just

once or twice I'd say

if they weren't from here I'd just say, would you mind

that's...Danno's chair

Danno's famous in Ballyduff, I'm sorry Danno

eh, yeah, no, I think

I remember there was a guy that used to come in here

and he used to love to bring a pint away in a bottle

so my father would get the whisky bottle

and he'd fill it with Guinness for him, but he'd say to him

"you'll bring back that bottle, now, tomorrow"

but the bottles weren't coming back, you see

but this day, anyways, he came in and

my father put down his foot, he says

"you're getting no Guinness 'cos you're not bringing

back the bottles to me"

"oh", he says, "I've the bottle outside"

and he went out and in the yard gate

to the crates behind and he took a bottle out of that

"now, here's your bottle" he said

he was getting his own bottle all the times

but y'know, there was some great characters

but sadly, they have all passed away

The strangers, now, normally get the brunt of me

me bad manners, but, eh

there was an American lady came in and

she went down to the ladies toilet and

she came back up and complained

that there was no lock on the toilet door

and she went to argue with me

and I said well, my grandfather started in 1911

I says, he passed away in the 40s

my father took over, he's retired now

passed on, and I'm here since, I says

and no-one ever stole a shit out of it yet

so that was the last complaint I heard from that lady

in fact it was the last word I heard from that lady

I never seen her since

I don't know if she took offence or not, but

she went on about her business

not that I'd have seen her much as I don't think

she would be commuting from New York

It was a story about a man that bought a bag of coal

in our yard where we used to sell the coal

and a bag of flour, the same day

and t'is a very funny story, he was going home

with his horse and car, and his family in the car

and it poured rain

and by the time he got home

the flour and the coal mixed

and the people were so poor

they could not afford to throw that flour out

it was ruined, the flour, it was black

the flour

so they thought of a plan

they made a cake

with the black flour

and instead of eating it themselves

they tried it out on the old grandfather

and the gave him an oven cake

and when it didn't kill him

they ate it themselves

My dad got all his material for such plays

and movies as The Field here on the bar

around the time he died, 10 years ago this year

an old boy just was wandering around

the day he died, outside the front door

and this journalist stopped him and said

do you mind me asking what it is

that made John B so special?

so the old boy thought for a second and he said

well, he says, "John B was the smartest man of them all

he took down what we said and

then he charged us to read it"

so he got all his material here in the pub

his storytelling, a lot of the characters from

the plays just walked in the door off the street

and found themselves on the stage a few years later

maybe a little bit disguised and a bit changed

by his fertile imagination

but nevertheless, it all came from

sitting up at the counter, or behind the bar

as I am now, talking away

Yeah, well, Brendan Behan, like,

while his father and mother drank here

they were lovely people

but Brendan in drink was a right bowsey

he'd clear a pub, y'know? but eh

I remember I'd be coming in from school

my father throwing him out many times

and he'd be roaring at my father

"ye Tipperary bollocks!"

Yeah, there's a couple of different stories

it's supposed to be in 'Ulysses'

and 'Dubliners' and a couple of other short stories

that were based in here, mainly in the small room

behind us

there's a lot of history, like

the thing about crossing Dublin

without passing a pub

which, a lot of people have tried it

but not have succeeded, y'know

yeah, we have a good strong association

with James Joyce.

Actually, my heating wasn't too warm last night

my heating wasn't warm last night

Eileen is getting her photograph taken

look

somebody is taking your photograph?

here, look, the cameras are here

I was ignored completely this time

I'm in the Irish Times only

we have the history of "are ye going for a jar?"

now that expression is used nearly

throughout the world

certainly in Ireland

and that originated from here

because in the first world war

we're right beside the cemetary

and graveyard, a lot of the employees,

salt of the earth people,

frequented here

and in WWI there was a shortage of glass

but jam was sold in jam-jars

so the men from next door,

the good grave-diggers,

they were the ones that got the

pints in a jar

so it became the expression from those gentlemen

are we going for a jar?

I'll be the 6th generation, we're here since 1833

as a licensed premises

well, we're always branded that we have ghosts and things

one time here, there was the group with their equipment

for the senses, and they had 2 mediums

and one of them said, and the other fella saw the same

the man standing beside me behind the counter

I went to one and said, you go down there

and sketch what you saw

and I said to the other, well

you go down there and sketch what you saw

and they gave me them, identical

and I went upstairs and I brought down

and who was it? my step-dad, my dad

identical

and he was, I had asked my brother

now, this is a true story

believe it or not, folklore, call it what you like

but it's a fact

he was the man that I bought the place from

he was the man that took me out of the orphanage

he was the man that took on my mother and 5 children

he was God's gift to this house

and he was my...I hardly remember my own dad

because I was only 8 years and 10 months when he died

but that man was ideal,

ideal.

Always lit a turf fire

and since then I carried on the old tradition

every day I would light a turf fire

which was a very, very nice attraction

and a direct link with the past

I think here it's all about the fire

allbeit's not blazing now at the moment

but, emmm

you'd love to be, like, back to the future

you'd love to go back, sort of at specific moments

in time, especially, like, 1798 or 1916

all of the key periods in Irish history

and see what it was like, what they talked about

around the fire

The O'Rahillys built this in 1808

and it was in their family until 1898

and the O'Rahilly was the only leader if the 1916

that was shot in action

the rest of the officers and leaders of 1916

were executed

and he was shot leading a charge in Moore St.

that's him in full battle dress, uniform

he bled to death in 2 days, he had a horrible death

one of the ambulance men from Trinity college

one of the auxiliary they wanted to pick him up

and take him to hospital

but one of the British officers

said "let the bastard bleed to death

he must be somebody important"

when he seen him with the officer's uniform

so that's what happened, he died to get nearer

here lies the O'Rahilly, RIP

When Pat's parents started to renovate it

in the rubble in the walls, they found this book

which turned out to be a visitors book

and the first date is 8th June, 1894

by a gentleman, J. Killroy from Dublin

who was travelling to Connemara

and put an entry in here

"stayed night 21st, very comfortable"

the most interesting one is Padraig Pearse

which signed this book, we think, 29th of August

now he doesn't actually give the year, but

the previous entry is 1905 so

we think it has to be around that time, 1905 or 1906

actually,his inscription is in a language that

I can't tell you what it is,

but we did have it translated a number of years ago

we think it's probably Latin, or Greek.

Sir Winston Churchill, no need to introduce him any further

spent his childhood years in that house

and during his recreation period

he would visit The Hole In The Wall

and play marbles on a clay floor

at that time cement was not introduced

incidentally, it's accepted as being

the longest pub in Europe.

Well, my dad, he trained as a doctor in UCC

and he qualified just before the war, and

he couldn't get a job in Ireland, so

my dad went over to England to see if he could get a job

but war was just coming, so he joined up the air force

and he had quite a career there, he was in Dunkirk

with the battle on the beaches and everything

and after that he got sent off to the far east

and when he was in the far east, in Sumatra

the Japanese invaded and he was captured

and became a prisoner of war

so he was 3.5 years in captivity

and he ended up on the Japanese mainland, in Nagasaki

and he was actually in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped

but luckily he survived, came back and lived to tell the tale

and we actually have a samurai sword that he brought back with him

an officer gave it to him for the

respect they'd built up between each other

so it's amazing to have

my dad was 14 stone when he went away and 7 when he came home

but my aunt says she remembers him coming up the

gangplank in Dun Laoghaire

his kitbag over him arm and this in the other hand

People play music here every Thursday for the last 46 years

it's basically they walk in at 9 o'clock

on a Thursday night, there is a

stream of musicianers in through the door

and in to here, and they play music

for 4 hours, and then they're gone again

it's a really unique thing that we have in here

the room is tiny but we regularly have 20-21

musicianers playing all sorts of instruments

in here every single Thursday

so it's the longest running music session in Ireland

it's 46 years and it's only ever stopped twice

for 2 funerals of 2 people that played here

so that's pretty unique

so what we do then is, when we have

somebody that's died

their picture goes on the wall

where they sat when they played the music

all those years

and their memory goes on then, on the walls

so we like to do that, remember everybody

As far as we know, we have a written history

and the Smyths been here since 1815

that was the year of the battle of Waterloo

and it started off in Newtown

ah, it would seat 350, easily

but they'd be fairly tight in

but anyone came after 9:30, they'd have to stand

we had 6 girls behind the counter one time

I didn't work behind the counter at all

very seldom, we had a small lounge here first

and I used to play the piano

and then when someone would rap and want a drink

I'd have to get up and go get him the drink

and I'd come back to play again, and

someone'd rap again and I'd have to go up again

and a very, very, wise and a very old man

came over to me one night

and he said

you'll have to change your position here, and your attitude

you'll have to get somebody to serve the drink

and you stay playing the piano

do you know that?

Home Sweet Home

the name of it

I don't know what else I could play now

We've had some great times here over the years

and some great characters came through

and great musicians

and Noel Redding living in town was,

or just outside of town,

was a great boost to us

that was huge, really, a lot of people would say, like

Clonakilty was always a dreary place, but they reckon

when Noel came he brought the 60s with him, like, y'know

kinda kicked it off, just brought

that colour to the area

and now you can see as you drive through

it's so vibrant and colourful

and y'know, it certainly was one of the catalysts for it

it's like anything, like we were saying before

tradition is important now more than ever

and the musical tradition here is very important

it's important to the town, there's a huge

musical legacy here

all the young people know they're coming up

and some of the music and the musicianship and the bands

it's just phenomenal

and west Cork, it's become the Nashville of Ireland almost

to an extent, like, y'know, I mean

Christy Moore, like, the most famous quote he said

there's the Sydney Opera House, there's Carnegie hall,

there's the Royal Albert Hall

and then there's De Barra's

that's as good a testimony as you'll get off anyone

This funny-looking man here is Sean Aherne

he was the main singer in the National Folk Theatre of Ireland

he just wandered in, for a drink

so we've managed to persuade him to sing a song

what'll you sing for us, Sean?

I'll sing 'She Moved Through The Fair'

'She Moved Through The Fair' written by Thomas Moore

well, we're claiming him anyway, just up the road

off you go

Our grandparents opened the pub on St. Patrick's day 1900

and we're the third generation

there was my grandparents, my mother

my father, came in here

and then there was 4 of us, 3 girls and a boy

there's two of us always stayed

and we've ran the pub from we were at school

we all had our jobs when we came home from school

and then when mammy died in 62, and daddy died in 82

and we, the 2 of us took over completely in 82

and ran it, day in day out, 7 days a week

we might have a, what would you say?

an odd, y'know, word, a battle or something like that

but no fights

we don't do a battle

not a battle, but I mean...

a difference of opinion

Yeah, we're together, I suppose, are we 25 years together?

at least, yeah

yeah, I suppose so, we are, yeah

well, I haven't killed him yet anyway, so

obviously it's very advantageous for the business

as regards costs, and that, but

it can be a little bit hard at times

yeah, it's hard, and we try not to, really

we try not to talk about it

up at the house, but particularly in front of the kids

because we're kinda all day at it

and we do work, Pat works, it's hard

Pat works, realistically, 7 days a week

y'know, we try and have a Sunday off, kind of

every so often that we can do something with the family, y'know

sometimes I feel like I could be a single mother

They say there's 3 generations in every family business

apparently, so come here while you can

I suppose, to anyone that's watching it

we might not be here for much longer

I've been working here all my life, since I was a young fella

I mean, on and off, and then I went to school

I went to college, and I lived abroad for a few years

I came back and I just kinda fell back into it so

I had to go away to realise how much I missed it

how much I actually enjoyed it, I suppose

'cos I never really liked it, like anything

the last thing you want to be doing is

working with your family when you're a young fella

but over the years, and a bit more maturity I suppose

I've grown to accept it and enjoy it much more

and get on better with the boss

I suppose, that's the problem, at the end of the day, he's the boss

if the boss is being an asshole, you can say, Jesus he's an ass..

but when your boss is your father it's very conflicting

thought process

because, of course, I love my father

he's not an asshole

I'm glad you said that

I only said that because...ah no no

That's my dad there

he was here all his life

I don't think he was ever out of the country in his life

he was never out of the country, never went

on a holiday out of the country in his life

I have been out of the country 5 times

I've been in Dublin 8 times

my dad was really the same as myself, we never changed

they ask me is he my brother

My father, he died there about 5 year ago

he died, but sure my father knew nothing else

he was taken out of school at 13 years of age

to work behind the counter

me grandfather wasn't well

so that's all he knew was the bar work

from his school days

and he never hardly ever missed a day behind the counter

holidays, now, wouldn't be a thing with him

he might go away for a couple of days

in the latter years when we grew up a bit

but now, he wouldn't be one, now, for going abroad on holidays

he ventured over to England twice, I think, in his life

that was about it

as far as he went

it's not like people nowadays who don't get a couple

of foreign holidays they're not

they're not happy

We had a painting done of the old bar

with my father standing behind the bar

and, lord have mercy on him, he gone

he's gone 5 or 6 years now, 7 years I think

I tell you, you didn't hang around when he was around, like

y'know, you got on with what you had to do

but, y'know, he believed in being straight

honest with people and that's very important

and if he could be of help to them

he definitely would be of help to them

and he tried to pass that on to me

and I hope I took some of it from him

y'know, that you'll be friendly when people come in

and you'll look after them

and that they'll go away with a good feeling about the place

Yeah, you learn things, I would've learnt a lot from my mam

and my dad, but...

family is important and I think people like

to come in and have a chat, maybe with the owner

just talk about general things, y'know, maybe politics

maybe religion, football,

football would be a big conversation here

A pub, seriously, of a Monday morning especially

in a pub, anywhere in Dublin, even here

you come in, it's like a confession box

everyone's going "ah, I had to get out of the house"

"she was doin' me head in"

all these stories you hear, don't you Liam?

You could have a person 82 years in there

you could have a person 52 years in there

and you could have a person 22 years in there

and, like, they can all meet

they get used to talking to each other

and interacting with each other

and they appreciate each other, and they respect each other

and respect is what it's all about

in a public place

The Irish pub is a place where you can talk

without any interruption except by everyone

I know that's a contradiction but if you're

at home you're interrupted by one person

your wife, your husband or your son or your daughter

or your partner or whatever

being interrupted by one person you have to shut up

but when you're interrupted by 50 people

and everyone talks together

everyone gets to say their piece

so it's like a safety valve for the population of Ireland

we probably have less psychologists and psychiatrists

than any other country in the world

but there's probably no country in the world

who needs them more

yet we divulge all our troubles and our worries

and our bothers here in the pub

have a couple of beers, relax, and talk them through

that's what people do and I think that's

why we're generally a happy nation

in spite of all our little economic downturns

and the occasional recession.

Pubs, people come in and they've an awful lot of regrets and stuff

I don't think you should regret anything

y'know, everybody comes in and "if I was your age

I would do this" and "I could've done that"

y'know, here we live for now, and

we don't worry about what's coming in the future

and we don't worry if we're going to be

in a recession for the next 10 years

we just play a bit of music, have a few pints

and move on, y'know so

if my one piece of advice would be

to just live it and not worry about

what's not happened yet

Enjoy life, I suppose

don't let your life be spoiled by the

big picture of things you can't have

enjoy what you have

and you can't do any more

if you can make more out of it, fair enough

but enjoy it while you have it

Live it as best you can

and as long as you can

when you go out in the morning

if you can do somebody a good turn, do it

but don't do them a bad one

you'll get through it, eventually

you'll get through it, eventually.

I myself, the advice I would give

to anybody is peculiar

I was very active in sport, all my life

still am, training a football team here

I had heart problems, and whatever

and thank God I got over them

and I'd say the thing that most of us want to do

nearly all of our life, is smile

and respect each other

and always be happy

no matter what your situation is

My advice in life

if you love your work

and I love public house atmosphere

and when I was working in this pub

I never classified it as work

it was a passion I had for it

and I loved every second

of the 42 years

that my wife and I

worked hand in hand

behind this pub

behind this counter

Oh advice, the advice

one of the things about life that I always think is

there's one seriously important thing about life

and that's to have a contented mind and be well

have good health

I'm 84

would you think I was 84?

Advice to give them?

oh you wouldn't have to give anyone advice nowadays

oh I don't know

In life,

don't rush it

don't rush it

take your time

it was a famous advice an old man from the Blaskets told me

"Tog go bog e"

which means 'take it easy'

and that was his in life, and I said that's what I'll have

don't rush life

There was one people that had a great idea

they bought the poster with all the pubs on it

and they were coming home for 3 weeks

and their holiday was they were going to

have a drink in every one of the pubs

I think there was about 40 pubs on it

round the whole country, just hired a bus

turned left at Dublin airport

went round the whole country

it's a holiday I'd love to go on myself