Jul 4, 2022
P.F. Smyth’s, now sadly closed, was one of Ireland’s longest family-run licensed premises, with records dating to the mid-1740s. It was also once the premier music hall in County Carlow – a piano lounge with the sort of pin-striped, red leather ambience you’d...
Jul 4, 2022
Closed since 2008, Somers pub was also where Eddie did his accountancy business. His eyes shone when he talked figures, shillings and sixpences, percentages and additions and, above all, logical ways to increase one’s money. ‘It’s all about management’, he counselled....
Jul 4, 2022
‘There was no such thing as stabbing or kicking that time. If you pulled a knife or kicked a man when he was down, the rest of the lads would turn on you. But the boys would always shake hands after half an hour and have a drink together’. That’s the way both Pa...
Jul 4, 2022
Dating to the late 18th century, the two-storey public house in Ballitore bore witness to the violence of the 1798 Rebellion. Today, a vast open hearth brick fireplace smokes beside an organ, delineating the space where musicians gather on certain Wednesday evenings....
Apr 19, 2022
It had been close to 22 years since I attended her wake in County Kerry so you can appreciate the butterflies that flittered through me as I ascended the stairs of Dublin’s Assembly Rooms to be reunited with her in 2015. She looked pretty good, all things considered....
