We’re always keen for wins, says Johnny Gaynor, who recalls simpler days

WHEN you look back through the records for the Singing and Swinging Pubs competition in Wexford, it’s like taking a trip down memory lane.

Fond memories of nights long gone in The Shambles or The Big Wash come flooding back and you can almost picture the smoke-filled rooms, and hear the sound of laughter and music flooding out through the doors.

While quite a few of the old Singing Pubs strongholds are no more, one that was there in the early days and continues to fare well in the competition is Gaynor’s at the top of Hill Street.

The landmark pub had the honour of hosting the launch of this year’s competition and owner Johnny Gaynor is just as keen as ever for the pub to scoop some prizes.

In the early days of the competition, Johnny’s father Ger would’ve gotten involved through the Vintners’ Association and the tradition has been handed down and is ongoing ever since.

‘Initially there were only three pubs involved,’ he recalled. ‘There was Heffernan’s and Broader’s, and I’m not sure of the third. We were down on the Main Street when it first started. My father would’ve been involved with the Vintners over the years and he and my mother would’ve organised dances and that, but he got involved early on with the likes of Macken’s down in the Bullring.’

While some of the equipment involved in shows in this day and age wouldn’t look out of place on the road with U2, Johnny recalls that in the early days it was a much simpler affair.

‘Years ago, people used to dress up for it and that kind of thing,’ he said. ‘There were none of these fancy amplifiers or anything like that, it was just people in a pub playing music and having fun.’

While ‘Dancing at the Crossroads’ is a term that will forever be linked to Wexford’s hurling exploits in 1996, Johnny recalls that pub-goers were doing it long before Martin Storey held the Liam McCarthy aloft, particularly at Singing Pubs time.

‘Years ago the pub used to have to close at 11 on a Thursday, but they could open again at a minute past midnight. I remember that during the Singing Pubs, the lads would clear out at 11.01, but they’d bring their chairs and instruments with them and sit under the window of the pub playing away in the street until we opened again at 12.01. People would be out dancing in the road and everything. It would be a great session. That was it, it was that simple.’

Another year, Johnny recalls his father and a couple of the locals welcoming in a local friar, Fr Irenaeus, and his dog for the Singing Pubs performance, before coming back down the stairs in grass skirts and coconut bras to sing a Hawaiian themed number.

‘The dog howled for the whole thing from start to finish,’ Johnny laughed. ‘I think that year we probably finished dead last!’

Gaynors has enjoyed great success in the competition, even becoming the first pub to win a ‘treble’ of Best Variety three years in a row in 1999, 2000 and 2001, a category which they battled it out with The Westgate for for years.

Now in the competition’s 65th year, Gaynor’s is still aiming to play a major part as their show takes to the stage on Friday, October 27.

(By Pádraig Byrne)