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(peaceful clarinet music)

- At the same doors he opened.

And we'll start another day.

Very good.

Oh, yeah Murphy's here now,
found out.

No problem at all, boy, thanks
John.

Thanks, thanks.

There's a snug there, on this
side.

And there's a snug on that side.

And these snugs, in the olden
times,

were used for ladies to drink in

and as well as match making.

- And the fathers of the bride
to be

or the groom to be would come in

and sort out what the
dowry was going to be.

Could be a little bit of money

and it could like a hen or a
sheep

or something, as well.

- The people getting married
weren't in there at all.

Just the fathers and the
mothers went in there

and they discussed the deeds.

In every pub in Dingle
I'd say there are old

marriage arrangements
wrote down in every pub.

And they made out a document and
it was

signed by both people
that there'd be so much

money involved in it.

Yeah, and you know there was
money

involved in every match.

- And my aunt, who would
be in her nineties now,

she remembers it actually going
on.

And she said that you
would stay around outside

and if the match went
ahead, there would be

a celebration, and you might
get a biscuit or an apple,

not a glass of champagne.

- Well, there was no
seating at the counter.

There was no stools up until the
'50s.

Well, maybe in the cities all
right,

but not in, down in the towns.

And it wasn't etiquette for a
lady

to stand at the bar and have a
drink.

It was looked, frowned on.

So they were put, see,
that's what these snugs,

the lady went in, and the-

- [Voiceover] The lady and
gentleman.

- His, or husband and
wife went into the snug,

or else into the lounge.

But never at the bar
until the end of the '50s,

and then they were allowed.

- Ladies kind of didn't, of
course it was

terrible discrimination
when you think about it,

but if a man came in with his
wife,

like, she went to the snug, and
she might

have her little sherry.

And he might be at the bar, you
know?

That's the way it was in those
times.

You know, and go back to
the start of the century.

But, ah yeah there's a
lot of famous characters

drank in there down through the
years.

Macallan's now is, I believe I
would

have heard stories when I was
very young,

and was a regular in there.

- And people love to come in and
have

a conversation about some
serious matter,

and just close the little
shutters off,

and have it.

And that's what the snugs, and
the seats

are so narrow you sat up
straight in it, as well.

There was no crouching.

- There was a president of
Ireland, actually, was asked to,

by Dick Spring, he was a
politician,

and John Rogers, he was senior
counsel,

they got together in there

with Mary Robinson one evening.

They asked her would
she run for president.

So there's a little plaque in
there

to commemorate that.

- [Voiceover] And she ended up
president.

- Yeah, would you like some
snuff?

(peaceful clarinet music)

(inaudible)

- Mornin'.

Hi, Percy.

- [Voiceover] How are you?

- I'm not too bad at all.

And here, it's always been

an important place for horse
trading.

I remember when I was
young, I was only 15 or 16,

there was a lot of
pretty successful horses

around here at the time

and there's a lot of bets pulled
off.

Good luck!

So I remember walking in there
one day

and there was a man there.

He was the brother of
a very famous trader.

And it was the day before one of
the big

classic settings, the Derby,
or the Guineas, in England.

And unsuspecting, I
walked in to the middle

of a group of men, expecting to
get them

another drink, and he
had a load of envelopes.

And everybody stopped, everybody
looked.

I kind of looked at Fonsie.

Fonsie looked at me, go
away for a few minutes.

Right, sorry.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- It's unusual, we've a pub on
one side

and we have a grocery on the
other side.

We have petrol pumps just here
to my left.

Funeral home further down.

So we're trying to cater for
everything.

It's an old traditional pub,

and that's the way we run ours.

We have the grocery on one side.

We wouldn't be making a big
profit

on the side now where the
grocery is,

but we still are selling as much
ham today

as we were 20 years ago.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- [Voiceover] We're a shop
really, you could say.

We're a convenience-

- I suppose, as all rural
business,

you know, country business
started off,

you're a shop, general merchant,
I think,

the old term in our general
store.

And you have your bar is one
building.

We have a grocery hardware,

a food market hardware, adjacent
to this-

- So a jack of all trades,
and master of none.

- And we do undertaking, which
would be

synonymous with the bar,
with the bar business.

- We're also undertakers, and
have been

for five generations, as well.

So I'm the current undertaker in
town.

(peaceful clarinet music)

This is the parish priest, Tom
Breen.

(speaking Gaelic)

- And we've got a parisher
system going.

He gets a lot of money in the
church,

and I have to get a lot of
change.

So he brings the change in to
me,

I give him cash.

We cut out the middleman.

The banks don't like it.

- We, I don't get an awful lot
of money

in the church, but they're
very good to me, really.

- He does actually get an awful
lot

of money in the church.

His chauffeur's outside, waiting
for him.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- This pub is one of the
most unique pubs in Dingle.

It's definitely, there's
a lot of history to it.

It has never changed in any way
inside,

in the premises itself
and outside is the same.

And I try to keep everything
the same as it was.

That's one of my traditions,
myself.

Keep things as they were.

There's enough of things
changing in the world.

The whole world has
changed, the whole of Dingle

is changing, which is ruining
it.

And we'll try to keep it
the same as it was, myself.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- All I've heard from
people that come in here

is oh, don't change, don't
change it.

It's seriously like embedded in
me.

And often times like I'd feel,

oh God, I need to give
it a complete overhaul.

And then you think, you sorta
think,

this is what makes it what it
is.

It is an old pub, it is
hundreds of years old.

Why would you change it?

You know, there's too many
things changing in life.

- [Voiceover] If there's
anyone comes in to Ballitore...

- Look at the stone floor there
now

(inaudible)

and all the new pubs
and that in modern rises

are putting in stone floors and
that.

- Yeah, that's a flag floor

and it's like, it's here as long
as

this building's been built
so it's never changed,

albeit's rockier and it's
unlevel

and you have to watch
your step walking on it,

but it is here over 230 or 40
years old.

- You'd be alright coming in,

but you have to watch yourself
going out.

(laughing)

- That is so true.

- Can I get a pint then?

- Yeah, no bother at all.

(playful string music)

- Back in the '60s, they were
tearing

some of the most beautiful
pubs in the city apart.

I was told a story, Liam
passed this on to me,

and Bill, my grandfather, at the
time,

people were saying to him,

"Bill, would you not move with
the times?

"You're going to be left
behind."

You know, they were
basically putting carpet

on the floor and Formica on the
counters

and taking away with the snug

and the partitions and
the lovely old mirrors,

you know.

So Bill was really upset about
this.

"Oh, what am I going to do
here."

Like, you know?

So one day he went for a walk

and he went up to Ryan's
at Parkgate Street,

another fine, beautiful
Victorian pub

and the bossman was there
himself,

Bongo Ryan, as he was known.

Bill ordered a drink and he said
to Bongo,

he says, "Are you modernizing?"

Bongo says, "No."

And he says, "Well, I'm not
either."

And the two of them shook hands.

To this day, Ryan's at Parkgate
Street

and The Palace Bar stand as they
were

back in those days, you know,

and they haven't changed.

♪ I have traveled far, far

♪ From your own native home

♪ Far away o'er the mountains

♪ Far away o'er the foam

♪ But of all the fine places

♪ That I've ever seen

♪ Short of none to compare

♪ Of the Cliffs of Dooneen

- This is as it was.

It's a bit Canadian and
it's a Columbian Pine floor.

And the woodwork is all
Columbian Pine.

And there's a lot of stuff here

that was collected over the
years

for the future generations
to see what life was like.

Because with the advent of
all the technology, you know,

and everything, that is
everything is, will be as

stainless steel or plastic.

It's just a carton.

Just a memory of the
people who went before us.

Just to keep the continuity.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- The younger generation will
never know

what real pubs were like.

And this, to which we're lucky
enough

to have kept, they can't get
over it

and we don't have no television,

no music, just conversation.

And it has started off
now with the surfers.

They love, because they can come
in

and trash out what they did
wrong

and what they didn't do wrong.

And they love when there's no
music

or anything like that to
annoy their conversation.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- Well, it's kind of an
oasis now, unfortunately,

because the whole area's
changed.

I mean, there's all office
blocks and tower blocks

everywhere and it's over.

I mean, in the '60s, there was a
theater

out across the road and we
had the Irish Crest next door.

And it was always busy.

Very, very busy during the day.

And before that, it was the
docklands

and we used to get all the
dockers in

and it was just non-stop
drinking in those days.

You know, early, early
morning, we went in early

but as soon as you opened
the doors, da will tell you,

like from half 10 onward, it was
busy.

Constantly busy, you know.

So, now it's office crowd.

It's students.

It's workers.

It's a good mix of everybody

which is the main thing.

You know, it's a good mix

and they all come for the pint
of Guinness

which we have a reputation
for being the best

pint of Guinness in Dublin.

Which obviously means the best
pint of Guinness anywhere.

So, we have a high reputation.

It's consistently very, very
good

and every now and again
I do sample it myself

just to make sure.

Quality control, you know.

So, cheers.

Tastes like more, as they say.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- What's the secret in a good
pint?

Pull it so far and let it settle

and then put a head on it.

Good creamy top.

(laughs)

We hear the same.

All of us kept a good pint.

- Now, Dano, thanks very much.

- Well, it's a great Guinness
alright,

but when Lisa's here there's me
gold now.

(laughing)

Always a great pint, you know.

- It's okay, we're really
used to each other.

(laughing)

Oh I like honesty, know what,
that's okay.

- I wouldn't be out having the
craic here.

(playful string music)

- Well, we're here in John B.
Keane's bar

in Listowel and which was given
to me

by my dad about 20 years ago

as he had enough of it
himself working behind the bar

and trying to write.

Himself and my mother bought it
in 1955.

Dad came home from England
and spared up his money

and got a loan from the
bank and the two of them,

she was a hairdresser, and
the two of them set it up

and we've been here since.

It's a great little bar.

Not the biggest bar in Ireland,

but people think it is because
of the name outside the door.

And the price of drink went
up 10 cent the other day

and the customers were
complaining and whinging

so I said I'd give them
free drink for the night

if one of them could tell me the
price

of a slice pan of bread.

Not one of them knew the price.

They guessed and they guessed.

They got it all wrong.

To be honest, I didn't
know the price either,

but this fella, Sean Moriarty,
started all the trouble,

so I said, "Sean, there you are.

"You know the price of a pint of
Guinness,

"but you don't know the
price of the staple of life,

"the very staple of life,
bread."

And I says, "I don't pity you."

And he says, "But then again,

"I wouldn't eat seven or eight
slice pans

"every night, would I?"

(peaceful clarinet music)

- The bus man used to be here,

not that many years ago
now when you look back,

when you had to close
between, if a Sunday,

you had to close between two and
four.

- That's right, Jack.

- That was the hardest
one because everyone

who come up in needed to
double up on their drinks.

- That was always the
sweetest drink in any pub

was the one after hours.

- Yeah.

- And the one you got on a Good
Friday.

- They're the sweetest ones.

- We used the kitchen quite a
lot

before the Sunday opening come
in.

Yes, we did, I have to admit.

We get all the characters
coming from the football

and the old boys from way down
the low country years ago.

You know.

And they wouldn't pass this
place without

coming in on a Sunday evening
for a drink

and a bit of a singsong.

And discuss the football.

They would complain about
the orient of the kitchen.

They always knew to come the
backdoor

and some of them characters met
me about

4:00 o'clock in the morning
when they'd been looking

for a drink quick and maybe
hit the backdoor with a stick.

(laughing)

Now and then they'd walk some
stevedore

who used to hit the door with a
stick.

And they would throw
stuff up at the window.

Wasn't a policeman who
wouldn't come without two

to our backdoor.

And to the back window, they
crept through the window

and into the garden and away up
the fields

to get out of the place's road.

And their batons with them.

- Well, the best models ever
thought about

the 2:00 o'clock on for Sunday

and for clockwise.

His wife, the husband was
coming home, he was kept in.

And he was coming home
around 5:00 or 6:00 o'clock

and she said, "That's
it, that's the last time

"you're gonna do this.

"Pub closes at 2:00
o'clock, you're coming home

"at 5:00 o'clock, your
dinner will be in the bin

"next Sunday if you're
not here at 2:00 o'clock."

He comes home the next Sunday
half five.

"Where's me dinner?"

"It's in the bin."

Well, he got her by
the scruff of the neck,

opens the door, gives her
one good kick up the ass,

lands in the middle of the
street.

And who's walking down?

Only the PP.

And he says, "Father, I'll
make sure she goes to mass

"every other Sunday."

(laughing)

That joke will make anybody
happy.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- Oh, lock ins it was
always them, for sure.

No, they, they just were a big
offense

after hours and that.

There was a big raid here one
year

and they shut down three pubs in
the town

the same night and the
place was full here,

but everyone escaped out the
back.

At the time, it was a major
crime to be caught in the pub.

I think they caught
five people that night.

We used to have hens out the
back

and there was a vicious rooster.

But one of the fellas went
and hid in the hen house,

but the rooster never made a
sound.

The guards never checked in the
hen house

and the boys reckon the next day
that

the boogeyman had the
rooster by the throat

and that's why there was
no noise out in the shed.

'Cause the rooster would
normally kick up a racket.

He wasn't caught now, but
there was five other people

caught that night.

I think the fine at the time
was a fiver or something.

But it was a big thing
around the town at the time.

So nobody passes any
remarks about that anymore.

Nobody passes any remarks.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- I suppose the Irish pub
more so than the English pubs

or anything, is just the sense
of humor.

You know, the Irish, they
have a great sense of humor.

Personally, for me, anyway,
I'm not a television addict

or anything, you know.

I like to come out and meet
people

and my neighbors and that and
have a chat.

I don't come for the drink
really.

I'd have a drink, but
it's for the chat I come.

- For when they for
they have nowhere to go,

'cause of malady.

Get her own hooch anywhere.

But, I don't have any part in me

because I come down here and
have a chat

a few nights a week and have a
drink.

Pretty important for me because

I'm not interested in
television,

I'd be sitting at home
looking at the wall.

- Yeah, yeah.

(light piano music)

- And, uh, it's a social,

a pub is a social outing, so it
is.

Where people come to
relax and spend time in.

Settle down, look at your man.

It's unique because the pub in
Ireland,

everybody comes to meet in the
pub.

Everybody says hello to their
friends.

How are ya, Frankie?

Great game.

- [Voiceover] How are you?

Class game, magic, wasn't it?

- [Voiceover] Fantastic, super,
super.

- Class, class.

But um, um,

ask me that question again.

- If you went to a pub
abroad and they just,

they nearly ignore you.

You go into a pub in Ireland
and they go up in your ass

to find out who you are.

Name, address and creamery
number

before you nearly get a drink.

You know, where you're
from and who you are

and if you're evasive at all,

they'll keep asking you
questions.

You might as well just
put your credentials up

in the counter when you go in.

Save a lot of trouble.

That's what I know with them
here anyway.

There was a man here one day

and he was fairly inquisitive

and he was sitting over
the fireside there.

This stranger come in,
I don't know who it was.

Your man called me over
anyway and I went over,

"What's up?"

He said, "Who's that?"

I just turned around and says to
the man,

"Aye, will you tell
this fella who you are."

I says, "he wants to know."

The man says, "No I don't, no I
don't."

He says, "What the hell else
did you call me out for?"

You see the face going red on
him.

He never asked me again.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- I say myself that we say
Carmen now,

we say and her husband,
Lord have mercy on him, Jim.

Do you know, they regarded the
customers

as an extended family.

You know.

- And the staff were extended
family.

- You know, the staff
now, they do anything

for the staff.

The staff will do anything for
them.

- [Woman] Yeah, we're
kind of like family, yeah.

- Your customer's your friend.

Your customer, he is
your family, basically.

And you get to know every one of
them

and you know, they know you so
well

and it's whatever Pete
says or Pete doesn't say

or he's quoted in a lot of
things when

he'd be better if he
kept his mouth closed.

- There's people come in to me

full of drink and I get talking
to them

and they'll stay for the night.

Just to be talking.

Maybe that's the bit of charm I
have.

I can talk to people.

And relax people.

That's all they want.

And maybe sing a song.

♪ Come by the hills

♪ To the land where fancy is
free ♪

♪ And stand where the peaks

♪ Reach the skies

♪ And the lochs meet the sea

♪ Where the rivers run clear

♪ And the braken is gold in the
sun ♪

♪ And those cares of tomorrow

♪ Must wait 'til this day is
done ♪

♪ Come by the hills to the land
♪

♪ Where life is a song

♪ And stand where the birds fill
the air ♪

♪ With their joys all day long

♪ Where the trees sway in time

♪ And even the wind sings in
tune ♪

♪ And those cares of tomorrow

♪ Must wait 'til this day is
done ♪

♪ Come by the hills to the land
♪

♪ Where legends remain

♪ Where stories of old have been
told ♪

♪ And may yet come again

♪ Where the past has been lost

♪ And the future's about to be
won ♪

♪ And those cares of tomorrow

♪ Must wait 'til this day is
done ♪

- I suppose the history of
this pub dates back 1840.

Originally the building
was built as a grain store.

I'd be the fourth generation
and hopefully the kids

will be the fifth if we
can stick it out that far.

My great grandfather
turned it into a pub, shop,

grocery, feed store, machinery,
you know,

everything went on here at the
time.

Whatever was,

I suppose it drove through bad
times,

good times, whatever, and
I came back from Dublin

in '92 and started
chipping the plaster away

from the building as things
were quiet or whatever.

So I restored it by hand over
a period of X amount of years.

I'm probably not finished yet
if the truth is told, but.

It's been good to me in ways.

We've had good years.

We've had bad years,
tough years, whatever.

The pub trade is tough at the
moment,

but look, it's a vocation.

- I married in here in 1963
and the husband owned it.

So I now am running it
now since he died in '75.

Passed away in '75.

So now I'm continuing carrying
on.

And the next generation,
I hope they do the same.

I'd like to see it continue.

I hope to God to do.

But no one knows.

We can't tell the future, sure
we can't.

The future's not ours today.

Que sera sera.

Whatever's to be will be.

I think that's a very nice song.

- Well, I'm feeling is very
important,

I like going into family run
businesses.

I find that there's a connection
of,

a connection of respect
and of hard work ethic

and you need a hard work ethic
to survive

within the pub trade or
whatever.

And uh, Morry, would you
get out of the way please.

Good boy.

It just brings a little
togetherness within

and people feed off that if
they,

you know, feel more
secure within themselves

if they're in that sort of
workplace.

Boys and girl, now, just
move out of the way.

I came back here in the early
90s

and I have to say the trade here

was very, very, very poor.

For various reasons.

It was just a combination
of parents being old

and not interested in the pub.

So it picked up for me.

And I've gone full circle

where's it's gone probably back

quiet again-ish due to the
economy

and due to me losing maybe a
lack of,

just a little bit of
(glass crashes) sparkle

or a little bit of bite.

And I'm getting re-energized
again

and hopefully if I can
get my energy back into it

that hopefully it'll pick up
again.

(slow thoughtful music)

- The pub's name is
O'Shaughnessy's Pub

and it's affectionately
known as The Captain's

and the captain, he was my
father.

And he inherited the pub in 1952

after his brother died.

And he was an eccentric
man, my father, really,

because he closed his pub at
6:00 o'clock in the evening.

He never opened after 6:00
o'clock.

And they all knew that and they
all

left quietly at 6:00 o'clock.

So I'm keeping the tradition
going

and I feel I'm only
care taking it for him.

So I'll care take it anyway

and I said to him when you're
dying,

I said, "Dad," I said, "the
name's over the door now,"

says I and it'll be there when
I'm going.

(slow thoughtful music)

A lot of the stuff here has been
left in

by locals and by people who
were interested in the pub

and had no more use for them.

That's actually the
confessional from the church.

That's the original piece, that
there.

The confessional from the
church.

Of all the pieces and trinkets

that were given into the pub,

this actually wasn't given,

however there's an amazing
story behind this piece.

This is from the penal laws in
Ireland

and it's an altar when
those religious persecution

in Ireland and it was forbidden

to say mass in churches.

Priests went to the houses and
they said

and to private places in woods,
whatever,

to say mass for the locals.

And this was what they
call a traveling altar.

And everything is original in
it.

It hinges down like that.

And the crucifix is here.

And the paten for the, when
you receive the holy communion.

There was a little altar cloth,

an amazing little altar cloth.

All original.

These were all inside
it back from the 1800s.

It's all embroidered.

'Tis beautiful.

And the original spoon for the
holy oils.

(slow thoughtful music)

- Well, these, I don't know,

they must've been there for
years.

Probably my grandparents got
them and they were up there.

The one that's most
popular is this one here

with the Mitchell's Whisky
because it has

two lovely views.

One of Howth and one of
Ireland's Eye.

And there's one mistake
there, we think it is anyway,

Ireland's Eye, as people
know what Ireland's Eye,

but it's Irelad's, L-A-D
apostrophe S,

that's written on it.

So I'd say there's something
about that.

- And Howth has...

- Howth has, I think, it's
Roches Store in Dublin,

he wanted them and called one
time...

- He said his home was on it...

- His home, he said was
on that, so he would love

to buy the mirror, but the
mirror's there that long.

It's not for sale.

- And as a matter of fact, the
people

that made Ryan's Daughter,
Faraway Productions,

they were the trow that done it.

They tried to buy the floor
of the pub off my father.

And they wanted the village's
slate put in the pub,

in Ryan's Pub in the
famous Kirrary village,

which is Ryan's Daughter.

And my father says the
floor is there before him

and it'll be there after him
because you won't be moved.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- I suppose there's a lot of
stuff.

We have a Four Roads jersey up
there

that a man up the road
was knocked unconscious

in 1963, I think it was, he
was nine days unconscious

and they literally couldn't
get the jersey off him

for nine days because of his
head swelling or whatever

and the blood stain is
still on the jersey.

We have different bits and
pieces.

We have a Camogie All
Ireland winning team.

We have a dog here wearing
glasses and smoking a pipe.

We have an All Ireland
Minor winning jersey.

We have an old can of Fanta.

We have a box of Calvita cheese.

I have my own grandmother's day
books

where she used to book keep.

- Don't rightly have to dust
them.

That's just become a pain.

And then people bring in various
bits.

There's a mole trap there.

That came from, I think, was
American, that came from.

All the way those tongs
over there in the corner,

they came from Canada, ice
tongs.

Just people bringing in bits and
pieces

just add to the stuff.

And then when you go to paint
the place

or do it up at all, you
take everything down

and then you don't know
where half of it goes back

so there's boxes of stuff
lying about the place as well.

You be wondering how it all
fitted up in the first place.

(light string music)

- And we always had stuff
hanging out

of the ceiling there as well.

And when people came in,
strangers especially,

tourists, they'd always have
their head up in the air

looking at the stuff on the
ceiling

and trying to identify it.

Sometimes it might be an
odd Wellington hanging there

and they'd be looking
for the other Wellington.

They always had a bit of a
laugh about that stuff up there.

- Another bit of history,

the bar on the front door.

I'll show you this.

I'll bring up this close.

The bar on the front door,

there's a bend in it.

The bar was bursting in the
year of the Black and Tans.

They drove the vehicle through
the door

and they bust, they
bent the bar in the door

and the bar in the door is still
there.

We leave it there.

- Yeah, the picture in the
background here

is a picture of Sive, it
was John B's first play.

It was written in 1958 and it
was a story

about a young girl who
was being married off

to a far older man, very
much against her wishes,

and she ran away in
the middle of the night

and she was drowned.

They're lamenting her.

There's a song called Sive's
Song.

For the murdered lovely Sive,

fore she would not be a bride

and they laid her dead
to be buried in the clay.

Unfortunately, I can't sing
because God

takes something away from
everyone,

otherwise, I would be perfect.

(slow thoughtful music)

- Oh, Jimmy,

Jimmy's one of the top
characters in the town.

Closet opera singer.

A wit.

Quiet man.

Spent a lot of time at sea.

And retired comes from
an old Athlone family.

That pose suits him to a T.

He likes a glass of lager.

That was in the good old
days when he could smoke.

We sort of have an arrangement

that he imbibes at little or no
cost,

which I don't mind, or my wife,

we never mind at all.

It was practically our, maybe it
was our

sort of, we started maybe, but

I just informed him recently
now,

after 19 to 20 years in the
place,

that if he's making a will to
remember me.

And he was wondering why.

I just said a small matter about

12 to 13,000 euros or whatever,
you know.

After I told him the quick
maths, like,

but I don't think he
got the point anyway, so

there's very little hope
of me getting it ever.

It's not that I wanted
it or anything like that.

(singing in Italian)

- Well, there was the characters
coming in here, there were.

As they say, I can tell you
there was gasmen coming in here.

There was one man, he was
thinking, he was in England,

that he'd live here and be
found later, worked hard,

been for service and he lived to
be 88.

His drink there, sitting over
there.

And he said here's where a
little hat

that the lads brought back from
Australia.

And he said, "Finucane when I
die,

"hang that hat over where I sit.

"And every pint that's
drank I'll then get rid of.

"Go on Finucane," he
says, so I have the hat

hanging, it's hanging up
there today in his memory.

That's it.

(soft bouncy music)

- It wouldn't happen.

And if somebody was sitting on
his seat,

I'd move them.

If they came in, politely, of
course,

but I just, but I think anybody
local

would automatically get up,
automatically,

when Dano would come
in and they would know

that it is his seat.

Even people who wouldn't
drink here regularly,

but might come in now and again,

would know that that's Dano's
seat.

Yeah, if someone came in and sat
down,

you know, I'd just,
once or twice, I'd say,

if they weren't from here, I'd
just say,

would you mind, that's Dano's
chair.

Dano's famous in Ballitore.

(laughing)

I'm sorry, Dano.

Oh God.

Yeah, no, I think.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- I remember there was a guy,

there was a guy that,
he used to come in here

and he just loved to bring
a pint away in a bottle.

So my father would get the
whisky bottle

and then he'd fill it
with Guinness for him.

But, he'd say to him, "You'll
bring back that bottle,

"now, tomorrow."

But the bottles weren't
coming back, you see.

But this day, anyways,
he came in and my father

put down his foot.

He said, "You're getting no
Guinness

"because you're not bringing
back the bottles" to him.

"Oh", he says, "I have
the bottle outside."

And he went out and in the yard
gate

and to the crates behind
and he took a bottle

out of that, "Now, here's
your bottle," he said.

He was getting his own
bottle a lot of the times.

But you know, there was some
great characters, you know.

Sadly, they have all passed
away.

(bouncy soft music)

- The strangers now normally
get the brunt of me.

Me bad manners let's say.

There was an American lady come
in.

She went down to the ladies
toilet

and she come back up and
complained

that there was no lock on the
toilet door

and she went to argue with me.

And I says, "Well my grandfather
started business in 1811."

I says, "He passed away in
the 40s, me father took over,

"he's retired now, passed
on, I'm here since."

I says, "And no one's ever
stole the shit out of it yet."

So that was the last complaint
I heard from that lady.

In fact, it was the last
word I heard from that lady.

I never seen her since.

I don't know if she took offense
or not,

but she went on about her
business.

Not that I probably would
have seen her that much.

I don't think she'd mind
commuting from New York.

(peaceful clarinet music)

- It was a story about a man
that bought a bag of coal

in our yard where we sell
the coal and a bag of flour

the same day.

And it is a very funny story.

He was going home with his horse
and car

and his family in the car

and it poured rain.

And by the time he got home,

the flour and the coal mixed.

And the people were so poor,

they could not afford
to throw that flour out.

It was ruined, the flour was.

It was black, the flour.

So they thought of a plan.

They made a cake with the black
flour.

And instead of eating it
themselves,

they tried it out on the old
grandfather

and they gave him enough in cake

and when it didn't kill him,

they ate it themselves.

(laughing)

♪ There is nowhere quite so
lonely ♪

♪ As a silent darkened stage

♪ When the flood lights
have all dimmed and died ♪

♪ And the props are put away

♪ But our town felt just as
lonely ♪

♪ As May turned into June

♪ When God finally rang the
curtain down ♪

♪ And called our playwright home
♪

♪ But you cannot kill a rainbow
♪

♪ Nor turn back the rising sun

♪ Nor undo the works of gifted
men ♪

♪ Even though their day is done
♪

♪ For they always walk in
silence ♪

- And my dad got all his
material

for such plays and movies as
The Field here in the bar.

Around the time he died,
10 years ago this year,

an old boy just was wandering
around the day he died

outside the front door and
this journalist stopped him

and said, he said, "You mind me
asking

"what it is that made John B. so
special?"

So the old boy thought
for a second and he said,

well he says, "John B. was
the smartest man of them all.

"He took down what we said

"and then he charged us to read
it."

So he got all is material here
in the pub.

His story telling.

A lot of the characters from his
plays

just walked in the door, off the
street

and found themselves on the
stage

a few years later.

Maybe a little bit
disguised and a bit changed

by his fertile imagination,
but nevertheless,

it all came from sitting up at
the counter

or behind the bar, as
I am now, talking away.

(contemplative music)

- Yeah, well Brendan Behan,
like, his father and mother

drank here, they were lovely
people.

But Brendan, in drink, was a
right bowsy.

He'd clear a pub, you know,

but I remember, I'd be
coming in from school

and my father throwing him out
many times

and he'd be roaring at my
father,

"You Tipperary bollocks!"

You know.

- Yeah, there's a couple
different stories.

Mostly between Ulysses and
Dubliners

and a couple of other short
stories

that were based in here.

Maybe in the small room behind
us.

There's a lot of history like
the thing about paths crossing

in Dublin without passing a pub,
which is,

you know, a lot of people
have tried, I'd say,

but none succeed at it, you
know.

But, yeah, we have a
good, strong association

with James Joyce.

(slow soft music)

- Actually, my heat wasn't
too warm last night.

- Huh?

- My heat wasn't warm last
night.

- [Voiceover] Hello!

- It kept me (mumbles).

- I needed to get me photograph
taken.

Look.

- [Voiceover] Somebody's
taking your photograph?

- Here, look, the cameras are
here.

I was ignored completely this
time.

Third time only.

- We have the history of

are you going for a jar?

Now that expression is used
nearly throughout the world.

Certainly in Ireland.

And that originated from here.

Beause in the First World War,

we were right beside the
cemetery

and the graveyard, a lot of
employees,

salt of the earth people,
frequented here.

And in the First World War
there was shortage of glass,

but jam was sold in jam jars.

So the men from next door,
the good gravediggers,

they were the ones that
got their pints in a jar.

So it became the expression
from those gentlemen,

we're going for a jar.

I'd be the sixth generation.

We're here since 1833
as licensed premises.

Oh well, we were always
branded that we have a ghost

and things like that.

One time here, the group
with their equipment,

for the seances and the two
mediums

and one of them said and the
other fella said the same

the man standing beside
me behind the counter.

So I went to one, I said,
"Well, you go down there

"and sketch what you saw."

And I said to the other
one, "You go down there

"and sketch what you saw."

And they gave me the identical

and I went upstairs and brought
down

and who was it?

My step-dad, my dad.

Identical.

And he was, and I had asked my
brother,

now this is a true story,
believe or not,

folk art, call it what
you like, it was a fact,

and he was the man that
I bought the place from.

He was the man that took
me out of the orphanage.

He was the man that took on
my mother and five children.

He was God's gift to this house.

And he was my,

I hardly remember my own dad

because only eight years and 10
months

when he died, but that man was
ideal.

Ideal.

(slow peaceful music)

- Well, my dad, he
trained as a doctor in UCC

and he qualified just before the
war

and he couldn't get a job in
Ireland

so my dad went over to England
to see

if he could get a job,
but war was just coming

so he joined up the air force.

And he had quite a career there.

He was in Dunkirk with
the battle on the beaches

and everything and after
that he got sent off

to the Far East and when
he was in the Far East

in Sumatra, the Japanese
invaded and he was captured

and became a prisoner of war.

So he was three and a
half years in captivity.

And he ended up in the
Japanese mainland in Nagasaki

and he was actually in
Nagasaki when the atomic bomb

was dropped, but luckily
he survived and came back

and lived to tell the tale.

And we actually have a samurai
sword

that he brought back with him.

An officer gave it to him.

The respect they'd built
up between each other,

so it's amazing to have.

My dad was 14 stone when he went
away

and seven when he came home.

But my aunt said she
remembers him coming up

the gangplank and Dun Laoghaire,

his kit back over his arm
and this in the other hand.

(peaceful clarinet music)

(lively Irish music)

- People play music here every
Thursday

for the last 46 years.

It's basically, they
walk in at 9:00 o'clock

on a Thursday night.

It is a stream of musicians
in through the door

and into here and they
play music for four hours

and then they're gone again.

It's a really unique thing
that we have in here.

The room is tiny, but we
regularly have

20, 21 musicians playing
all sorts of instruments

in here every single Thursday.

So it's the longest running
music session in Ireland.

It's 46 years and it's
only ever stopped twice

for two funerals for two
people that played here.

So that's pretty unique.

So what we do then is,
when we have somebody

that's died, their
picture goes on the wall

of where they've sat when
they've played the music

all those years and their
memory goes on then on the wall.

So we like to do that, remember
everybody.

(slow contemplative music)

- Far as we know, we
have a written history

and the Smyth's been here 1815.

That was the year of
The Battle of Waterloo

that started off in Newtown.

It would seat 350 easily.

But would be fairly tight in,

but anyone came in after
9:30 they'd have to stand.

We had six girls behind
the counter at one time.

I didn't work behind the counter
at all.

Very seldom.

We had a small lounge here first

and I used to play the piano.

And then when a song was
wrapping

and I'd want a drink I'd have to
get up

and go and get the drink.

And I'd come back to play again

and the song would wrap again

and I'd have to go up again.

And a very, very wise and a very
old man

came over to me one night and he
said,

"You'll have to change your
position here

"and your attitude, you'll
have to get somebody

"to serve the drink and you
stay playing the piano."

("Home Sweet Home" by Sir Henry
Bishop)

You know that?

Home Sweet Home, the name of it.

I don't know what I was going to
play now.

(light slow music)

- We've had some great
times here over the years

and some great characters came
though

and great musicians, you know,

already living in town was,
or just outside of town,

was a great boost to us.

- I mean, that was huge, really.

A lot of people would say, like
Clonakilty

was always a dreary place, but
they reckon

when Noel came he brought
the 60s with him, you know

and kind of kicked it off
and just brought the color

to the area and now, as you can
see it,

if you drive through it's
all vibrant and colorful.

And it really was, certainly,
one of the catalysts for it.

And it's just like anything,
like we were saying before,

tradition is important now more
than ever

and the musical tradition
here is very important.

It's important to the town.

There's a huge musical legacy
here.

All the young people
now that are coming up

and some of the music and the
musicianship

and the bands, it's phenomenal.

You know, like, West Cork,
it's become the Nashville

of Ireland almost to an extent.

Christy Moore, like, one
of the most famous quote

he said was, "There's
the Sydney Opera House,

"there's Carnegie Hall,
there's The Royal Albert Hall

"and then there's De Barra's."

So that's a good of testimony as
I think

that you'll get off anyone.

- This funny looking man here
is Sean O'Hearn, he's the

main singer in the National
Folk Theater of Ireland.

He just wandered in for
a drink so we managed

to persuade him to sing a song.

What'll you sing for us, Sean?

- I'll sing She Moved Through
the Fair.

- She Moved Through the Fair
written by Thomas Moore.

- Yeah.

- He was my van man,
we're clearing him anyway,

just up the road.

Off ya go.

♪ My young love said to me

♪ My mother won't mind

♪ And my father won't slight you
♪

♪ For your lack kind

♪ Then she stepped away from me
♪

♪ And this she did say

♪ It will not be long love

♪ Til our wedding day

♪ She stepped away from me

♪ And she went through the fair
♪

♪ And fondly I watched her

♪ Move here and move there

♪ And then she went homeward

♪ With one star awake

♪ As the swan in the evening

♪ Moves over the lake

- Our grandparents opened the
pub

on St. Patrick's Day, 1900.

And it's, we're the third
generation.

There was my grandparents, my
mother,

my father came in here and
then there was four of us

and three girls and a boy.

And there's two of us always
stayed

and we've ran the pub from
when we were at school

we all had our jobs when
we came home from school.

And then when mommy died in
'62 and daddy died in '82

and we took over, the two
of us, took over completely

in '82 and ran it, day in
day out, seven days a week.

- We might have a how
would you say, an odd,

you know word or battle
or something like that,

but no fights.

- We don't do battle.

- Not a battle, but I mean,

difference of opinion.

(slow thoughtful music)

- Yeah, we're together, I
suppose,

are we 25 years together?

- At least, yeah.

- Yeah, I suppose so, yeah.

Well, I haven't killed him yet
anyway, so.

- Obviously, it's very
advantageous for the business

as far as costs and that,
but it can be a little bit

hard at times.

- Yeah, it's hard and
we try not to really,

we try not to talk about
it up at the house.

But particularly in front of the
kids

because we're kind of all day at
it.

And like, we do work, like, Pat
works,

it's hard, he works,
Pat works, realistically

seven days a week, you know.

We try and have a Sunday off
kind of

every so often that we can do
something

with the family, you know,
because it is difficult.

Sometimes I feel like I
could be a single mother.

- I think there's only, I think
they said

there's three generations
in every family business

or apparently, so come here
while you can, I suppose.

The diode is watching us.

Might not be here for much
longer.

But no, I suppose, I've been
like,

I've been working here all my
life

since I was a young fella.

I mean, on and off and
then I went to school

and went to college and
lived abroad for a few years.

I came back and I just kind of,
I suppose

I just fell back into it.

So, had to go away to
realize how much I missed it

and how much actually
enjoyed it I suppose.

'Cause I never really liked it.

Like anything truly lasting,
you want to be doing it,

working with your family
when you're a young fella

and things like that, but
I suppose, over the years

and with a bit more maturity I
suppose,

I've kind of want to
accept it and enjoy it

much more than I'm better
with the boss, I suppose.

That's the problem because
at the end of the day,

if he's the boss, and
if your boss is being

an asshole, you can,
jeez, he's an asshole,

but when your boss is your
father,

it's very conflicting,
that thought process.

Because, of course, I love my
father.

He's not an asshole.

- I'm glad you said that.

- And I only say that,
'cause, oh no, oh no.

(laughing)

- That's my dad there, yeah.

He was here all his life.

He probably never,

I don't think he was
ever out of the country

in his life.

He was never out of the country.

Never went on a holiday out
of the country in his life.

I have been out of the country
five times.

I've been Dublin eight times.

My dad is really the same as
myself.

We never changed.

They ask me to see my brother.

(laughing)

(light slow music)

- Me father, he died
there about five year ago.

He died between, you know, me
father he knew nothing else.

He was in the broad,
taken out of the school

at 13 years of age to
work behind the counter.

Me grandfather wasn't well.

So that's all he knew was the
bar work

from his school days.

Only he hardly never missed
a day behind the counter.

Holidays, now wouldn't
be a thing with him.

He might go away for a couple of
days,

the latter years when we grow up
a bit.

But no he wasn't be wanting
now for going abroad

or all this.

He ventured over to England
twice, I think, in his life.

That was about it.

Far as he went.

Talk to people nowadays who
don't get up to foreign holidays

they're not happy.

- We had a painting, we had a
painting done of the old bar

with my father standing behind
the bar

and Lord miss him, he's
gone since he's gone,

five or six years now,
seven years, I think.

And I tell you, you didn't hang
around

when he was around, like, you
know.

You got on with what you had to
do.

But, you know, he believed
in being straight honest

with the people and that's very
important.

And if he could be of help to
them,

he definitely would be of help
to them.

And he tried to pass
that onto me and I hope

I took some of it from him.

You know, that you'll be
friendly when people come in

and you look after them
and that they'll go away

with a good feeling about the
place.

- Well, get on my husband,
like to drop a drink.

I'm very, very truthful about it

and I'm not ashamed to tell it.

Well, what many thought is more
did,

but he was a good fella in every
way

and very kind and very
popular and very well known

with everybody.

I don't think it was
that really killed him,

I think it was more or less a
heart attack

that killed him.

He got a massive heart attack
and died.

Lord rest him, yes.

But he liked to drop a drink

and his family before him liked
to drop.

Where do you go there?

(laughing)

Yes, they did like to drop a
drink,

so he would've too.

But I wouldn't like to
see if the rest of them

taken it.

Too much.

I'm not on for too much strength
now

because it can end up problems.

You know what I mean?

You know, people can go into off
license

and buy a bottle at, you
know, a reasonable price

and maybe a bottle of Coke
or something to go with it

and you can't blame them.

But then again, I think,
maybe they got too much drink

that way because if they're
getting it behind the bar,

they're getting it measured.

Whereas all the way they're
drinking it in bottles

and glasses, it's very, very,
very sad

to see these traditional
Irish pubs closing down.

It's the saddest thing in the
world.

And a lot of them are closed.

And a lot of them will be
closing if it continues

the way it's going.

Because I just think it would be
terrible

'cause it takes away all the
character.

The Irish pubs have a
bit of character to them.

Do you know what I mean?

At least they make
everybody happy and welcome

on the plus.

They look after people too.

- A pub, seriously, if among
the mourning especially,

a pub, anywhere in Dublin,
even here, you come in,

it's like a confession box.

I had to get out of the house.

She was doing me head in.

All these stories you
hear, don't ya, Liam.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- You could have a
person 82 years in there.

You could have a person 52 years
in there.

And you could have a
person 22 years in there.

And like, the can all meet.

They get used to talking to each
other

and interacting with each other

and they appreciate each other

and they respect each other.

And respect is what it's
all about in a public place.

- The Irish Pub is a
place where you can talk

without any interruption
except by everyone.

I know that's a contradiction,
but if you're at home,

you're interrupted by
one person, your wife,

your husband or your son or your
daughter

or your partner, whatever.

Being interrupted by one person,

you have to shut up, but
when you're interrupted

by 50 people and everyone talks
together,

everyone gets to say their
piece, so.

It's like a safety valve for
the population of Ireland.

We probably have less
psychologists and psychiatrists

than any other country in the
world.

But there's probably
no country in the world

who needs them more.

Yet, we divulge all our
troubles and our worries

and our bothers here at the pub.

Have a couple of beers,
relax and talk them through.

That's what people do.

And I think that's why we're
generally a happy nation

despite of all our
little economic downturns

and the occasional recession.

(soft bouncy music)

- Pubs, people come in
they have an awful lot

of regrets and stuff.

I don't think you should regret
anything.

You know and everybody comes in
and

if I were your age, I would do
this

and I should've done that and
you know,

here we live for now
and we don't worry about

what's coming in the
future and we don't worry

if we're gonna be in a
recession for the next 10 years.

We just play a bit of
music, have a few pints

and move on, you know, so.

If my one piece of advice would
be to just

to just live it and not worry
about

what's not happened yet.

- Enjoy life, I suppose, you
know,

don't let your life be spoiled

by the big picture of
things that you can't have.

Enjoy what you have and
you can't do any more.

If you can make more
out of it, fair enough,

but enjoy it while you have it.

- Live it as best you can
and as long as you can.

When you go out in the
morning, if you can do somebody

a good turn, do it, but
don't do them a bad one.

You'll get through it,
eventually.

- I, myself, the advice
I would give to anybody

is peculiar.

I was very active in sport all
my life.

Still am, training a football
team here.

I had heart problems and
whatever

and thank God I got over them.

And I'd say the most thing that
most

was wanting to do for nearly all
our life

is smile and respect each other.

And always be happy, no
matter what your situation is.

- Oh, advice, the advice,

one of the things about life

that I always think is
one seriously important

thing about life and that's
to have a contented mind

and be well.

Have good health.

I'm 84.

Would you think I was 84?

- Advice to give them?

(laughing)

Oh, you wouldn't have to
give anyone advice nowadays.

Oh, I don't know.

- In life, don't rush it.

Don't rush it, take your time.

It was a famous advice an old
man

from The Blaskets told me.

(speaking Gaelic)

Which means take it easy.

And that was his life and I
said that's the life to have.

Don't rush life.

- That was one of the people

that had the great idea,
they got the poster

with all the pubs on it

and they were coming home for
three weeks

and their holiday was,
they were going to have

a drink in every one of the
pubs.

There's about 40 pubs on it.

Around the whole country.

Just hired a bus.

Turn left at Dublin airport

and around the whole country.

It's a holiday I'd love to go on
me self.

(peaceful clarinet music)