CENTURY WAS MUSIC AND FOOTBALL
TONY AND DYMPNA O’KANE’S FOND MEMORIES OF FOURTEEN GREAT YEARS BEHIND THE BAR
Relying on the ability of your wife to ‘ have a great feeling about a place’ can sometimes spell disaster in life, but one man who has always known that when his wife Dympna has ‘ that feeling’, then it’s thumbs up from husband Tony O’Kane and that was the way the case when they visited The Century Bar back in 1987, a relationship they thoroughly enjoyed for 14 years and helped to turn the Chapel Street pub into one of the most popular places to visit on any night of the week.
Yes, Tony had been working in the coal industry on the Quay from his first job, initially with Connicks and afterwards with CCO. Both companies were a joy to work for and he made many life long friends from the Quay area while working there.
Around Christmas of 1986 Tony and bride Dympna went over to spend the festive period in London with Dympna’s sister Deirdre and when they came back, decided that some major changes were needed. After contacting his neighbour Jim Carroll, an auctioneer who organised the viewing of a number of pubs including Wards bar in Park Street and seeing a number of brochures, Jim put Tony wise to the fact that one of his regular haunts The Century bar was coming on the market and headed in to see his old friend Matt Sloan along with wife Dympna. She wasn’t too long in the pub when she ‘got the feeling about the place’ and that was enough for Tony. The premises needed a major facelift and the accommodation above was also due for some renovation work to bring it into being a more habitable home for the late 1980s.
During his formative years Tony had built up an impressive reputation for his footballing skills, having played with a huge number of clubs around town. He had also earned his spurs in the entertainment field, playing guitar and singing in some of the best local bands in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. Both these aspects stood him in good stead when he approached Ambrose Garvey in the Ulster Bank to see if this dream could become a reality. They sent him to have a chat with Chartered Accountant Eddie Kirk who explained that if quarter of both groups supported him in his venture, he’d do ok! That was enough for them, Tony, Dympna and their three young kids Darryl, Vanessa and Barry moved from the plush surroundings of Priorland to Roden Place, to a business that needed five months of major renovations and that was even before they took on any transformations to be carried out to house above!
A price was agreed, the paperwork was almost concluded, Matt had already bought a house for his family in Castle Road when tragedy struck, Matt had a heart attack and died very suddenly. This brought an air of despair to the family, friends and to the area. Although Tony did remember some of the pieces of advice Matt had already imparted to him, to make his own stamp on the place and not to stay too long working in the bar trade as he had done himself.
As the tragedy waned, and major renovation work took place both in the bar, the lounge and in their home upstairs, Tony and Dympna opened the doors in the Century Bar on 18th of September 1987 and were lucky enough to pack the place on a regular basis from then onwards. A number of reasons could be attributed to this with Dympna opening the pub during the day and providing lunches in an area that was absent of the service before. The place did a roaring trade with people making it their regular from the likes of teachers from St. Vincents and the CBS, many from the adjacent solicitors offices and even a good crowd from the Tax Offices when they were located in Earl Street.
But it goes without saying that one of the big draws for the Century Bar had to be the abundance of music that was played there down throughout the years.
It initially started while Tony was serving behind the bar fairly early on in his new career and he was asked to bring down his guitar to play and sing a few tunes on a Monday night. He was soon joined by his friend, the late Paddy Doherty and they became the foundation of ‘ The Monday Club’ which saw the doors closed as early as 9.45pm because the place was packed to hear the lads perform together.
From this spawned more nights of music, Friday, then Saturday and then Sunday nights had the place filled to hear local musicians with the likes of the late Paddy Tyrrell, Jimmy Johnston, Gerry Rice, Kevin Shields, Bobby Robertson, Alfie Mulligan and Gerry O’Connor regularly involved in the music sessions.
Another landmark in the Century’s time under Tony and Dympna had to be their uncanny ability to win and perform well during the Pub Drama’s during the Maytime Festivals. Dympna, along with Gabriel Donohoe, Gerry Duffy, Beaver McKeever, the late Irene McBride and Alvaro Lucchessi amongst others performed their first drama in the front bar, realised the premises was far too small for their production and from then on hired a marquee positioned in the spacious back garden of the bar where they played their humourously lavish plays to hugely appreciative audiences.
But possibly one of the biggest aspects of the pub’s popularity had to be its association with football and primarily the Republic Of Ireland team managed by Jack Charlton. Although he and Dympna were resident in the pub for Jack’s first adventures when they qualified for the European Championships in Germany in 1988, Tony decided to stay home and work on making it a huge success for the regulars with transforming the place into a mecca for Irish supporters and Dympna making sure that everyone was well fed at half time!
This all changed when Ireland qualified for Italia 90 and Tony first set off with 50 intrepid supporters to take on the world. He set up a club in the bar and everyone paid off each week to make sure they were part of the group and to ease the financial pain when the time for embarkation came. He contacted Thompson Travel in Belfast who secured flights and hotels at a hugely reduced rate that what was available in the south. They were based in Malta which