HAVE YOU BEEN stuck in the middle of nowhere with a fierce yearning for a pint of Guinness and a bit of craic? Well, your prayers have been answered.
Enter The Shebeen – a humble caravan put through a Cinderalla-like transformation to become a traditional Irish pub on wheels.
While it’s not the first time someone has tried their hand at a mobile pub, this one comes complete with wooden floors, faux-brick walls and enough memorabilia to put most Irish snugs to shame.
The project was the brainchild of Galway-based John Walsh, who came up with the idea as a Friday-afternoon wind down for the staff from his main business, laboratory and commercial fit-out firm Clinical Cabinets.
“It started off as a team-building exercise with my guys, but then, as we were getting clients in, everyone seemed to show great interest in it,” he told TheJournal.ie.
Walsh and a friend bought the 1980s-era caravan a few years ago for an Electric Picnic visit, and ended up holding on to it after they were unable to get a good price for its sale.
“We did a bit more brainstorming with it and I suppose our love of Irish pubs made it a natural route,” he said.
“As we started work on it, we started to get a bit more serious – we realised this could turn into a business.”
The hardest part of the job was getting the details right, Walsh said, with the work including sourcing materials like the textured wallpaper and other adornments from auctions and car-boot sales.
The finished product includes seating for 10, bar space for two draught beers and even a working (albeit electric) stove heater.
It took about four months of labour – from initial design to finishing touches like the distressed woodwork for that vintage look – and a budget of nearly €20,000 to see it through.
And despite starting life as a bit of fun, the Shebeen has also emerged as a serious business for Walsh.
He has already hired out the mobile pub for a handful of weddings since he started advertised it a month ago – and found a US buyer for the second-ever Shebeen-on-wheels.
“We haven’t done any marketing or research into it and we have got this order already,” Walsh said. ”I’m hoping with a bit more of a push we might get more orders for it.”
And the million-euro question – how much for your own Shebeen? Surprisingly cheap, really.
Walsh said the cost of making another pub-on-wheels and delivering it to its new home in Boston would come in at about €30,000, including a voyage across the Atlantic.
But if you can’t afford that kind of coin, a fully-kitted Shebeen can be yours for a weekend from only €1,500. Road trip, anyone?
Applesauce Films / Vimeo
Originally published at 12.20pm
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