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ALL OF THE publicans in one rural town are going keep their doors shut and remain closed for business this coming Good Friday.
This follows the six publicans based in the north Cork town of Newmarket coming together and deciding collectively that they will not open their doors in spite of the state lifting the 91-year-old ban on pubs serving alcohol on Good Friday.
John Scanlon of Scanlon’s Bar on Church Street, the publican who first proposed the move in an initial chat with a colleague said: “We have only two days off each year, Christmas Day and Good Friday and we want to hold onto that. It is a day publicans want to spend with their families.”
According to the most recent census, Newmarket has a population of 976 and the move has received an overwhelmingly positive response from pub customers in the town.
Publican Joan Hourigan has been serving pints from the behind the counter at Hourigan’s Bar on Newmarket’s New Street for the past 50 years.
A mother of nine, five of her children are involved in the business and Hourigan said that she has always enjoyed a day out or decorating their shut pub on Good Friday “and I don’t want to give that up”.
Hourigan said that the day off on Good Friday “is something that I cherish and a tradition I want to maintain”.
She said that religion is playing only “a small part” in her decision to remain closed.
“A lot of our customers would be older farmers and I wouldn’t think we would be particularly busy on Good Friday anyway. They have grown up with the tradition and I think they will see it out.”
Closed
Mick Hourigan, another publican in the village, announced the move to his customers on his pub’s Facebook page and the response from customers has been universally positive.
Hourgian operates a bar and a nightclub in the village employing more than 20 people.
“There are 363 days a year when the pub is open and I think that is plenty. Soon they will want us to open on Christmas Day,” said Hourigan. “I wouldn’t ask my staff to work on Good Friday. What is around on a Friday is not a lot.”
Scanlon admitted that the decision to close can only work when all publicans in the area decide to close.
“It would be different for city publicans who would be giving up a lot of revenues by staying shut on a Friday night, but I don’t think there would be a lot around here on Good Friday.”
Scanlon said that there has been no negative feedback from customers and the response has been positive.
“It is going against the grain – but who knows? Other pubs around the country may follow.”
On the Facebook page of Mick Hourigan’s pub, one customer wrote: “It is great to see that old traditions matter to our country … well done to you and hopefully more will follow.”
Another wrote “well done Newmarket, keep up our traditions” while one woman posted: “Well done to ye guys. Fair play. Our country needs to stand up for its traditions. Very proud that it is Newmarket leading the way – ‘we lead where others follow’”.
Policy
Earlier this year, President Michael D Higgins signed into law the amendment to the Intoxicating Liquor Act that lifted the Good Friday pub ban that had been in place since 1927.
Independent Senator Gerald Craughwell was a co-sponsor of the bill that has resulted in the lifting of the ban.
“The bill was all about choice, especially for publicans and I fully respect the decision by the publicans of Newmarket to stay closed on Good Friday. It is very interesting that they have come together to do this,” said Craughwell.
Craughwell said that he wasn’t approached by any vintners while the bill went through the Oireachtas.
A spokesman for the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) said today: “Like all other days of the year – except Christmas Day – publicans can choose to open or remain closed on Good Friday. The decision is entirely their own to make.
“The removal of the ban on serving alcohol in licensed premises on Good Friday has received broad support from the pub sector particularly as many tourists visit Ireland during the Easter period.”
Written by Gordon Deegan and posted on Fora.ie
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Young men who won’t expose their arses in public? A rare breed of Irishman indeed . They don’t make them like that any more ………. :)
William wallace: its all for nothing if we dont have freedom.
If he though the Irish were smart asses, I wonder what he thought about the Jews…..oh wait……
Great film
Timely article given the impending referendum. What would William do these days?
I seem to remember a huge sense of disappointment, that Mel Gibson didn’t mention the boys from the defence forces, while doing his “thank you” when he received his Oscar.
My good friend Jason Mckevitt is the very lad in the article. Grand head of hair on you Jay
Cheers Buddy, That clip has brought back some memories, especially regarding my Hair…..Mel Gibson was actually a genuine guy….no airs or graces Hollywood stuff, he would talk to us the same as his co-stars and production team, Still a smartass none the less !!!!!!!
Genius film maker.
@Thomas, calling Mel Gibson a “Genius Film Maker” probably puts you in a very small minority group. A lot of things spr
….spring to mind, when he’s mentioned but “Genius” is not one of them ….
Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto are all film masterpieces. He is a great director.
It’s my Island
That movie also spawned the chat-up line that was most used by irish male students on foreign female students for a couple of years… Every single on them claimed to have been an extra. My landlord in first year in college was working for the irish film board when they granted the funding for brave heart so I heard about it coming to Ireland for filming months before they arrived.
I’d say you’re great craic.
What chat up line. “You bled for wallace now bleed for me”?
Very good!!!
Overrated and basically fictional version of history. So completely irrelevant to the independence debate.
Clown
Alan, about sums it up. Great Scottish hero, played by an Australian and filmed in Ireland. Obviously no suitable scenery in Scotland. Decent film but hardly a history lesson.
Indeed, it’s actually considered one of the most historically inaccurate films ever made.
Er, I’d say that dubious honour would fall to Neil Jordan’s version of “Michael Collins”, Ben.
You don’t speak Latin?
Yeah well Mel is a girl’s name.
The Irish Army is a good army They do a great job at peace keeping for the UN, but a lot of respect is lost when we see them being extras in films and minding the banks money
The banks pay them to do it. It’s not free service afaik.
Soldiers have been extras in films for years and years. There was a time their pay was total shit and so they’d do it for a weekend away on the piss and a bit of craic. I wouldn’t begrudge it to them.
That’s a bit like saying nurses lose a lot of respect when they take a coffee break.
Jack those extras were fca (reserves)
There’s always one….
They kept him in fags anyway.
He is just a drunk lads take no notice of him
Why should I care what an alcoholic, wife-beating myth peddler has to say?
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