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FOR NEARLY 200 years, there has been a pub on Main Street, Ballycotton. These days, it’s known as Blackbird.
“It originally goes back to 1832 and it’s always been a pub,” says Mossie Tattan, bar manager. “There have been different owners of it and we took it over seven years ago.”
In that time, this quaint pub has established itself as one of the most beloved watering holes in East Cork as well as a renowned music venue. The latter was something Tattan and his family were keen to nurture.
“Our aim that time was to keep it as a music pub and just upgrade it a small bit and just do things a small bit better,” he says.
The pub hosts sessions every Saturday and Sunday night, and a folk club once a month.
It also regularly puts on gigs with the likes of Mundy, John Spillane, Liam Reilly, and many others having played in the pub’s intimate music room over the years.
“The lads are playing and you’re just sitting next to them,” he says of the venue.
It also lends itself to more impromptu music sessions.
“Other times, it’s just lads walking in off the street like, ‘Moss, can we use the music room down the back?’”
It’s the type of place where staff can step out from behind the bar to belt out a few numbers before returning to serve more pints.
The pub itself is split into several distinct areas.
“You could go into the main bar and there could be a match on,” explains Tattan. “You could go down to the back room and somebody could be having a session. You could go into the beer garden and have some fish and chips. It’s like that.”
The beer garden is not your typical beer garden. It overlooks Ballycotton Bay and houses the ruins of an old post office and shop.
It’s also home to The Field Kitchen, a trendy catering unit run by Ballymaloe-trained duo Adrian and Lisa Gallen. They serve up everything from fish and chips to delicious burgers and pride themselves on using fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
“If you can’t get fresh fish in Ballycotton, you can’t get it anywhere,” laughs Tattan.
Tattan says the pub enjoys custom from locals and tourists alike. It’s the only pub within a ten or twelve mile radius doing live music and that’s a draw in and of itself.
It’s also extremely popular among wedding parties with many opting to have the day-after gatherings in the pub.
Equally, the pub gets plenty of custom thanks to TripAdvisor, which rates the Ballycotton Cliff Walk as the second best thing to do in Cork.
“The fact is Ballycotton is fair beautiful, like,” says Tattan. “And it rains less in Ballycotton than anywhere in Ireland.”
You might think that the latter is a fact used to lure tourists to to the village, but Tattan is adamant that it’s true.
“Whatever the way the wind blows off, it keeps us drier than most of the country.”
You learn something new every day, eh?
So, how would Tattan describe the vibe of the pub for someone who hasn’t been in there before?
“It’s one of these pubs that when you walk into them, people don’t turn around and look who’s walking in the door,” he says. “That doesn’t happen in this pub. People are very comfortable in here.”
“Whoever made it in the 1830s, they certainly put an atmosphere into the walls of it. People go in, sit down and go, ‘Ah yeah. This is a pub we can sit down in and chill out.’”
Just ban it altogether – it’s fairly clear that the lobbyists are a bunch of cowboys and the last thing the world needs is another legal nicotine delivery system.
@Lee King Buckett: would you rsther let your kid smoke tobacco or vape flavoured liquid, Lee?
@Lee King Buckett: Cigarettes come in a single flavour. Vaping can go one better as a flavourless liquid. As usual, the government is 10 years behind the curve when it’s already too late to contain the spread of vaping to children. They should also force all vaping liquids down to a lower range of maximum strengths so they function better as a quitting aid for existing smokers.
@John Johnes: Neither John, as far as I’m aware, it’s not a binary choice.
Plus, if you read the article you’ll see that kids who start vaping are more likely to move on to cigarettes.
@Lee King Buckett: kids who experiment will always do so. No causal effect from vaping to smoking. Just more likely that kids who will smoke will experiment with vaping.
@Lee King Buckett: that’s right ban everything, over charge for everything, tax us to the hilt, any other liberties you would like to give away.?
@John Johnes: il be honest I think both are equally bad. I just found out that my daughter vapes. She’s only 14. It’s definitely the sweeter labelled vape juice that catches her attention.
@Bala mc blaha: You can’t be overcharged if it’s banned.
@Lee King Buckett: Ridiculous. It’s the most effective quit smoking aid available. Helping millions including myself. Already heavily regulated in Europe, unlike the USA. That’s where you’ll find your anti vaping cowboys like Bloomberg.
@gordon o loughlin: that’s very unusual. I live near a boys school and see the kids in the lane at break, smoking not vaping.
@Lee King Buckett: i am very sceptical of the info that is present here Lee.
Just logically thibking – as you probably know , the taste of the cigarettes are disgusting for a nonsmoker.
Now imagine kids that are vaping tasty liquids trying a cigarette.
I am very doubtful of kids dropping tasty smoke for a cigarette.
However what i have no doubts about is that tobacco industry is losing shit loads of revenue because of the people hopping on to the liquid. And governments.
@gordon o loughlin: just to reassure you also, both are certainly not “equally bad”. Vaping is far safer than smoking. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e-cigarettes-around-95-less-harmful-than-tobacco-estimates-landmark-review
@John Johnes: They could be encouraged to smoke neither… Just saying….
@Lee King Buckett: Yeah, and hand the market over to criminals. Prohibition doest work. We tried it before and it failed miserably.
@gordon o loughlin: Definatly not poor parenting anyway. It must be that darn juice I tells ya….
@Brian Hackett: Brian totally agree
@Pádraic Brady: What country has a government which was actually on the curve? I won’t stretch things by asking what country was ahead of the curve.
@Noel_Random: ya either way it’s not good whether it’s vaping or smoking. But the fruity flavors on vape juices should be illegal imo. Kinda like cigarette packs with nasty pics and warnings etc.
@Noel_Random: thanks for the info.
@Black Iron Tarkus: haha true story. Its just my daughter doesn’t live with me full time and her mam won’t talk to me but that’s a whole separate issue. Cheers for the vote of confidence though lol. Oh actually maybe it’s the poor spelling.. Yup it DEFINATLY is
Politicians are clueless about vaping. Flavours are crucial for smokers quitting tobacco. I quit a 30 year heavy smoking habit thanks to vaping. Now vape fruit flavour like apple and watermelon. Aged 57. The benefits of quitting tobacco are incredible. Could breath better and skin improved within weeks. My dentist also said my gums have never been healthier. This worrying about the kids is unfounded. The vast majority of vapers are adults and, according to the latest Healthy Ireland survey, it’s the most successful quit method. Far more effective than nicotine gums and patches and well ahead of the expensive tax funded HSE Quit site. Politicians need to look to the UK for proper evidence and not the click bait nonsense coming from the USA where misinformation is rife.
@Noel_Random: You’re extrapolating your experience to everyone.
I quit after 26 years with no vaping so no, flavours are not ‘crucial’ at all.
And nicotine is still a poison
@Lee King Buckett: well done you. Only a tiny minority manage to quit cold Turkey. Flavour is critical in switching to vaping from smoking tobacco. Nicotine is no more a poison than caffeine is. The dose makes the poison.
@Lee King Buckett: “I quit after 26 years with no vaping so no, flavours are not ‘crucial’ at all.”
What was that about extrapolating personal experience?
We’re all the center of our own little world it would seem.
@Noel_Random: critical?
This a rather big claim.
Got any peer reviewed studies to support this claim with verified data?
We know company’s did flavours to attract new users, they did this with cigs and now they are doing it with vaping. This isn’t about quitting for them. Its about getting new users hooked.
@Noel_Random: A tiny minority? Note sure where you’re getting your information Noel. Nicotine is a highly toxic chemical that’s used as a pesticide and weedkiller – it’s far more toxic and dangerous than caffeine. The truth is we have no idea of the long term effects of vaping. Are there less carcinogenics than in cigarette smoking? Yes. But the bottom line is you’re still imbibing a poison.
@Noel_Random: You might want to disclose your links to the vape industry when you make such posts. You clearly have vested interests as confirmed by your own twitter profile.
You are like a cigarette company worker defending cigarettes
@Noel_Random: I also quit a 30yr smoking habit with vaping overnight. Started with high nicotine levels and worked down to the lowest. The difference is like night and day in terms of my lungs, my cardiovascular capacity, taste buds, etc. I had tried everything and couldn’t stop smoking. People talking alot of nonsense here about something they know nothing about. The science on vaping vs smoking is extremely encouraging. If they want to regulate and/or ban something truly damaging to individuals and society, they should start with alcohol. Then see how the commenters here like it!
@Stephen Rogan: Did you not vape during daylight?
@Stephen Rogan: that’s great Stephen. So much ignorance around the issue now though that it’s actually keeping smokers from quitting as they think, like some posters here, that it’s a bad as smoking. So much misinformation coming from the USA. Hope Irish authorities see through it and focus on the science.
has nanny state nothing better to be concerned about. . .
@Bala mc blaha: you are right, if people want to build their homes with asbestos we should let them. The government are awful because they are trying to stop people killing themselves.
This vaping stuff is no different and should be banned, the sheer amount of chemicals in this stuff is doing nobody any good.
@Barry Somers: it’s a life saver for millions of former smokers globally. Sheer amount of chemicals? Lol. Check out what’s in an actually cigarette and what happens when it’s lit. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e-cigarettes-around-95-less-harmful-than-tobacco-estimates-landmark-review
@Barry Somers: Its now of your business what I decide to consume, Barry. Kepp your moralising to yourself. Just because you dont like it you actually belive no one should be allowed. Unreal.
@Black Iron Tarkus: it is actually, its everyone’s when that consumption costs the tax payer money due to increase health costs.
@Barry Somers: except vaping is bringing smoking rates down.
ah so they’re coming after vaping now that the tax on tobacco income is starting to drop
@Sean Stevenson: the tax was never a benefit to this country.
Smoking related health issues cost the HSE more then the tax take was.
@Barry Somers: That’s not true. Not to mention the fact that some smokers die younger, and therefore don’t need their pension paid in subsequent decades. This isn’t apparently about money at all, but a strangely Puritan reaction against people who simply happen to have a sweet tooth. A lot of us outgrow that; some don’t and why shouldn’t they enjoy it? Next some miserable group will be banning aftershave because they personally can’t enjoy any.
Smoked tobacco products for many years and developed health problems. Switched from tobacco to vape. Took a bit of time then I started experimenting with flavours and now I prefer vaping flavours more than the nicotine content.
Here in Holland all flavours except ‘tobacco’ are likely to be banned soon, so I’ve simply tried a couple well before that legislation comes into effect (unclear precisely when) and settled on one that’s somewhat sweeter than ‘regular’.
I don’t mind such a law, even if I did use to mix some ‘honey’ flavour into my liquid. It’s just a matter of seeing your vaping for what it is: a safer way to satisfy one’s nicotine addiction.
@Mick Tobin: I can’t understand the logic of only allowing tobacco flavour. You’d almost think they were trying to protect the tobacco cigarette industry?! The last thing I wanted to vape after quitting cigarettes was a tobacco flavour that reminded me of the real thing. Can’t stand the smell of smoke now either.
@Noel_Random: Thing is Noel, I don’t even really recognise it as ‘tobacco’. I have the battery set to lowest, and the nicotine level isn’t too high either. A while ago I took a drag from a cig & it made me completely dizzy. As for that it’s disgusting, yes absolutely.
Some people seem to take pride in steam train antics with their massive plumes, and in some shops it’s hard to breathe, and I don’t get why people want that.
@Mick Tobin: oh those annoying cloud chasers! Childish behavior and feeds the anti vape lobbyists.
I have no links at all to companies that sell vaping products. But I have seen how popular comics and cartoon books are to collectors. Surprised at a public representative deciding to monitor public tastes and trends as though it were any business of the Dáil to set rules for adult consumption. Is it really so impossible to imagine that there are other people in the world with different tastes from yourself?
Haaaaaa
Nanny state wins again.
You’d think they would actually ban cigarettes first but since that would lead to a loss of revenue they won’t.
Ah sure why not ban alcohol, sweets, fast food, cars that go over 120kph, there all dangerous.
have your say