Is the ‘Cultural Icon’ that is the Irish Pub becoming extinct? Is it destined to go the way of the bank, the post office and indeed, as is the case in a lot of Irish communities today, the church? These are questions that we can only answer with input from you, our readers and subscribers.
My name is Dominic, and twenty-one years ago this year, in 1991, I published a book called ‘The Famous and Historical Pubs of the South East‘. This was a guide-book that covered some of the more reputable hostelries in the South-East corner of Ireland. We covered the counties of Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford, sampling, researching and writing about the cream of the south-east’s finest pubs.
As the title suggests we wrote about the pubs from a historical point of view. There was nothing of too much depth or complexity, it was a traveller’s guide-book after all, so entertainment was one of our more immediate concerns. Nonetheless, even though the brief was to give the reader the historical context of the pubs we covered, at times it was difficult to hold back from giving a social and cultural perspective as well. The pub after all is deeply ingrained in the collective Irish psyche. For many centuries it was the hub of social and cultural activity, but now boarded up and abandoned bars can be seen in every corner of every county in Ireland, in every town and village, and nobody seems to be talking about it.
I have no particular axe to grind with this site. My only aim is to start a conversation about what is happening. I would like to get people talking about the issues, to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the Irish pub, its contribution to Irish life in general, its future and its legacy. People can share their memories and reminiscences here and on our accompanying Facebook Page, and they can upload photographs, movies and recordings if they have them. We would like to get as much of your opinion and comment as possible. Or you can just link to other sites and content and share for the benefit of others.
P.S. – Find out more by having a look here at d’Irish Pub – Our Story.
If you have strong memories, hold particular views on the subject or have archival material that could be shared, we would like to talk to you as well. As a documentary maker and an MSc. researcher I have a particular interest in speaking to you in more depth about the subject.
In the meantime, I will be going around the country interviewing, collecting and collating. I’ll be uploading material here, on Facebook and on the other site on a regular basis, so please join the conversation and ‘friend us,’ ‘follow us,’ ‘like us,’ ‘ send us’ or ‘tag us,’ whichever is appropriate. Every contribution, no matter how small helps us build a better picture of the current state of the ‘Irish Pub.’ Hopefully, with all the stories and material we come across there might be a full length documentary in there somewhere! At some stage.
Cheers and thanks for dropping in,
Dominic Mealy.