Harry was destined to run Harry’s Bar
FIRE GUTTED BRIDGE STREET PREMISES ALLOWING FOR A MASSIVE RENOVATION FOR POPULAR SPOT
It took until the very last day of his three year lease in the Claret Bar on the Castletown Road to help Harry Duffy to decide it was time to move on. He had build up a huge reputation there but with no mention of a renewal, he decided it was time to look further afield, when the Castletown Bar located at the corner of Bridge Street and Castletown Road came on the market, Harry didn’t have to think twice. This proved to be one of his best career decisions he ever made.
Harry had started work in the Claret (also known as Fagans) in 1975 and over the years had built up quite a clientele. He eventually took over a three year lease on the place and continued to trade until 1986. But with no sign of an extension to the lease in sight he realised it was it was time to move on.
Keeping an eye on the market it didn’t take long for him to find his ideal location, the Castletown Bar located at the turn off on Bridge Street for the Castletown Road. The premises had been owned by Harry McCumiskey for the previous thirty years and had fallen somewhat into disrepair. The toilets consisted of a dry toilet which basically was a hole in the ground for men and the ladies had to climb the stairs to use the family toilets. The bar was located on the street front, living quarters on the first floor, but had major room for expansion to the rear.
Although the bar was in need of massive renovations, Harry also had another extremely large problem, its licence had lapsed and he needed to go to court to renew it. So after the bar as it stood, was stripped completely, he only had six days
to return it to a functioning premises, complete with bar, stools, tables and chairs, before local fire officer could inspect the premises and give it the all clear before his appearance in court to gain a brand new licence for the bar.
No sooner had the licence been granted than the entire bar was completely gutted and a major extension added at the rear. This increased the size by three times and made it one of the biggest lounge bars on the street. The work was completed by builder Patsy Martin RIP and the entire build took just shy of six months, but left Harry ready for opening over the Easter weekend of 1986.
These were tough times for Harry, wife Eilish, daughters Ursula and Elaine, Joanne and sons Harry jnr. and Stephen who had moved upstairs to the living quarters when the premises was purchased and
they remained there during the entire build. But when Easter Sunday morning came around, they opened the doors for the very first time and were greeted by huge crowds who wanted to see the transformation and to wish Harry and family all the best in their new endevour. Harry had realised that many of his regulars from Fagans would head into town at least once or twice a week and due to his location, they were all happy to call in to see him for a drink on their way
Although the pub had to close between 2pm and 4pm on the Sunday, no sooner had he reopened the doors, than the crowds returned in force, the place was packed solid and remained that way for the entire weekend. But this was only the start. Such was Harry’s reputation from his days in the Claret that most of the regulars were happy to follow him to Bridge
Street and made his bar one of the most popular on the Bridge Street strip.
It was initially the forethought Harry put into the design of the bar that really helped its functionality. Instead of working in cramped space behind the bar, he left ample room for maneuverability, installed two sets of taps for the draught, two sets of optics for the spirits and two tills so when the bar was busy, the staff had ease of access to all facilities. He also installed a cold room at the rear at the back of the bar and ran pipes underground to the taps. Previously both kegs and coolers were positioned underneath the actual bar and caused problems every time a keg had to be replaced.
The ethos of Harry’s Bar was a family run bar for families and this proved hugely successful. In the early days Harry was assisted by wife Eilish and daughter Elaine and Ursula, brother-in-law Eamonn Mulholland, Gerry Clarke, Tom Carroll, Philip Woods and Harry’s brother Patsy. This encouraged families to use the bar and meant it was full over weekends and had a huge daytime and midweek trade.
The people using the pub also felt an affinity to the place and were always on hand and ready to assist the bar staff if anything untoward took place. They felt it was their home from home and were always happy to help out whenever necessary.
A real community spirit prevailed in the area around the pub. With the Silver Ring Betting next door owned by Sean Lawless in constant use by the regulars, it wasn’t uncommon for Sean to arrive into Harry’s and ‘shoot the bar’ after they had a particularly bad day trying to choose winners. Harry was prone to the same actions to make sure their day wasn’t a complete disaster!