MacCarthy's Bar
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| MacCarthy's Bar | |
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| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1860 |
| Website | Official website |
MacCarthy's Bar is a pub in the town of Castletownbere, County Cork in Ireland, founded in 1860 by Michael McCarthy, grandfather of Air Commodore Aidan MacCarthy, who lived with his family on the same premises. In 2000 the pub gained widespread attention when it featured in and appeared on the front cover of Pete McCarthy's best-selling book McCarthy's Bar.
Origins
MacCarthy's Bar is located in Castletownbere, County Cork in Ireland.[1] It was initially a grocery store founded by Michael McCarthy, an Irish general merchant who started doing business in 1860.[2] As his business expanded, he began to trade with the nearby Royal Navy base at the harbour.[2] He salted locally bought fish and sold it to the large ships. With time he adapted his business to run hand-in-hand with whatever was in demand including importing coal and salt.[2] The grocery store later expanded to become McCarthy's Bar, selling beer wine and spirits, one of the first licensed premises in the town.[2]
20th century
Later, Michael and his wife Eileen had three sons, Timothy who emigrated, John D. who studied law and the youngest Denis Florence, known affectionately as D.F., who stayed on to run the family business.[2] D.F. continued its success and became known as Lord High Admiral of Berehaven. He married Julia in 1904 and a year later had the first of 10 children. Between 1907 and 1911, a new church was being constructed in the town and D.F. employed their craftsman to refurbish the Bar using left over materials.[2] Italian craftsmen tiled the floor and included a mosaic inscription of D.F McCarthy at the entrance, and the Bar acquired new shelves.[2] Until at least 1911, it was known as McCarthy's Bar.[2] To distinguish the family from a neighbour with the same name, D.F. changed their surname from McCarthy to MacCarthy.[2] After the death of Michael, D.F. moved his family into the apartment above the Bar, where in 1913 their sixth child, Aidan MacCarthy was born.[2] During the First World War the business prospered following with increasing trade with American employers and an an extra storey was added to the building.[2] Electricity did not arrive in the town until 1952.[2]
In 1979, Aidan's daughter, Adrienne, left her career in nursing, to at first temporarily but then permanently, move to Cork and took over the running of the Bar, to avoid it closing after the death of an uncle.[1]
It gained widespread attention when it featured in and appeared on the front cover of Pete McCarthy's best-selling book McCarthy's Bar in 2000.[3] Chapter six in his book focussed on the evening he spent there.[4] He described the Bar as “the front half is a grocer’s shop with seats for drinkers; the back half, a bar with groceries.” It still is. The “fridge full of dairy products” still contains milk, eggs, Galtee cheese and butter, but it now also has bottles of white wine and Prosecco. The grocery shelves are still “well-stocked” with tinned beans, spam, ketchup and chickpeas.[5]
21st century
MacCarthy’s is run by Adrienne and Niki MacCarthy, daughters of Aidan.[3] It houses the ceremonial sword gifted to him by Isao Kusuno, a Japanese officer during the Second World War.[1] It has become a tourist attraction.[1] It has 12 staff.[1] It sells food between 11am and 4pm.[1]
During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, MacCarthy's remained closed for the longest period in its history.[1] The premises was reconfigured to allow one-way in and out passage and like other pubs, screens, sensitisers and masks were bought in.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h McGreevy, Ronan (9 August 2020). "The MacCarthy family: Their father survived Dunkirk, Nagasaki and a torpedoed ship. Will their pub survive Covid-19?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jackson, Bob (2016). "1. Home". A Doctor's Sword. Dublin: The Collins Press. pp. 3–34. ISBN 978-1-84889-320-7.
- ^ a b McDonald, Trudi. "'His life was saved by a rat': The incredible stories behind MacCarthy's Bar in Castletownbere". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021.
- ^ McCarthy, Pete (2000). McCarthy's Bar : a journey of discovery in Ireland. London : Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-76605-7.
- ^ Boland, Rosita (5 December 2014). "The all-night hooley in MacCarthy's Bar revisited". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
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