Welcome to the Cosy Bar, Castlerea
St. Patrick might have given his name to a celebration of all things Irish, and the Irish diaspora, but the real heart and soul of Ireland is the Irish pub. No matter where you are in the world, you can find a bar with dark wood panelling and Guinness on tap, often with honest-to-God sons and daughters of Ireland manning the till. But why, exactly, are there “Irish Pubs” all around the world? And is the “Irish Pub” jammed into the third floor of a Chinese office block, anything like the genuine article?
You know Guinness doesn’t really travel. No? It really doesn’t, it’s much thinner outside of Ireland, even in English pubs. That might not be true of bottled Guinness, but it is true that the further from Ireland you are, the worse the Guinness gets.
Pubs around the world are a far cry from the real Irish pub. In any true Irish pub, you won’t walk in to find 15 TVs and loud music. In Ireland, pubs are changing and becoming more Americanized but traditionally, the pub is the cornerstone of community. There’s a misapprehension, that the Irish and drink go together. But we Irish use the pub as a gathering place, and the drink in many cases is often a bonus.
The really good pubs in Ireland, anywhere in Ireland really, are still kind of cosy. People will drop in once, twice, three times a week, just to see who’s around, what’s going on. They might have traditional music, guitars and fiddles, they might not, they might have sports, they might not, but the conversation has to flow. You can’t be in a place without conversation, because chat and a drink go together.
A lot of the pubs in Ireland are really good pubs. They’re like museums of Irish culture, the owners curate those museums. And in a place like that, you’ll find staff that have been there for generations. A lot of pubs in Ireland are being taken over by chains, and big business, but the good ones are still owner-operated, by a real publican.
The Cosy Bar is… that genuine article, that home of conversation, that cornerstone of the community. That great Irish local pub.
St. Patrick might have given his name to a celebration of all things Irish, and the Irish diaspora, but the real heart and soul of Ireland is the Irish pub. No matter where you are in the world, you can find a bar with dark wood panelling and Guinness on tap, often with honest-to-God sons and daughters of Ireland manning the till. But why, exactly, are there “Irish Pubs” all around the world? And is the “Irish Pub” jammed into the third floor of a Chinese office block, anything like the genuine article?
You know Guinness doesn’t really travel. No? It really doesn’t, it’s much thinner outside of Ireland, even in English pubs. That might not be true of bottled Guinness, but it is true that the further from Ireland you are, the worse the Guinness gets.
Pubs around the world are a far cry from the real Irish pub. In any true Irish pub, you won’t walk in to find 15 TVs and loud music. In Ireland, pubs are changing and becoming more Americanized but traditionally, the pub is the cornerstone of community. There’s a misapprehension, that the Irish and drink go together. But we Irish use the pub as a gathering place, and the drink in many cases is often a bonus.
The really good pubs in Ireland, anywhere in Ireland really, are still kind of cosy. People will drop in once, twice, three times a week, just to see who’s around, what’s going on. They might have traditional music, guitars and fiddles, they might not, they might have sports, they might not, but the conversation has to flow. You can’t be in a place without conversation, because chat and a drink go together.
A lot of the pubs in Ireland are really good pubs. They’re like museums of Irish culture, the owners curate those museums. And in a place like that, you’ll find staff that have been there for generations. A lot of pubs in Ireland are being taken over by chains, and big business, but the good ones are still owner-operated, by a real publican.
The Cosy Bar is… that genuine article, that home of conversation, that cornerstone of the community. That great Irish local pub.
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