TIMMY LYNCH
Will Covid-19 be the death of our pubs?
WILL the outbreak of Covid19 Corona Virus change our lives completely and the way we live our lives, will it be the change of life in general and the way we live it, especially in rural Ireland and small towns?
At the time of the lockdown, Kanturk had eleven licensed premises open, two in O’Brien Street, three in Strand Street, one in Main Street, two in the Square, two in Percival Street and one in Church Street. Of these eleven, two had shops attached and three were bar restaurants. We wonder if all these will reopen.
At one time some years ago there were 53 licensed premises in Kanturk (this I counted out one day while chatting with Billy Barrett RIP in Barrett’s Bar, O’Brien Street) to include six and seven day licenses. Nearly every business had a license to sell alcohol, some every day but some had what they called a six day license.
At that time also the opening hours were much different to what they are now.
Most six day licenses were those attached to a business premises such as a hardware shop or undertakers or grocery shops. These would be closed on Sundays while all others would be able to open every day of the week.
All of these bars were a very important part of fair days in Kanturk when farmers brought their livestock cattle, sheep and pigs to town to sell them (this was before the advent of marts to sell the animals). The farmer would be in town as early as possible to get the best spots on the street to attract the buyers.
Many of the buyers would have come to town the night before by train and would probably have stayed overnight at Jones’s Hotel, Strand Street or at The Commercial Arms in Percival Street. During the day, when the buyers would have seen all the stock, many a deal would be struck while having a drink in the bars on the streets where the farmer would have their animals.
The animals would be minded while the farmer would be having the drink by some of the young boys around the town, getting sixpence or maybe a shilling depending on how good a deal would be struck between the buyer and the farmer. The minder might also be brought into the pub for a bottle of lemonade. Good days all round.
Life changed as time went on and maybe the motorcar played a big part in not having the need for so many licensed premises as people travelled further away from their homes.
The building of the marts around the country took a lot of business away from the small bars and pubs. The bigger pubs got bigger, offering ballad sessions and other entertainment and so taking away the customers from the smaller pubs.
Also, the owners of a lot of the pubs would be getting old and, maybe with no young people in the family, the business would close.
At this time there was a trend of the ‘super bar’ being built and we were told at the time for a new license to be granted there would have to be two old licenses closed. So this could be the reason for the decline in the number of license premises in Kanturk.
It is surely not the case that the people of Kanturk all decided to give up the drink.
This challenge facing the structure of living in rural Ireland and small towns and villages of the land is very different to the passing of time and we do not know how it will play out. The pubs and bars that are family and owner run will have some advantage over those that are rented businesses.
But what if the Irish people get used to staying at home or changing their drinking habits?