Irish pubs
The pub occupies a very special place in the culture and history of Ireland. The Irish are famed for creating the greatest pubs on the planet. In Irish pubs pint glasses are always half full, the craic is always ninety and the night is always young.
Over centuries the Irish have perfected the best nights out and the best celebrations where nights turn into weekends as the beer flows. So it’s no surprise that Irish pubs have sprung up around the world. In ancient cities and on sunny holiday islands there is always an Irish pub[1].
Pubs short for Public Houses where places that people could enter which did not require private membership, thus while the more affluent in society frequented Private Houses which did require membership, the Irish Pub offered the working classes a place of their own.
Indeed the significance of the Irish pub in Irish Culture dates back to medieval times, ‘According to the medieval historians, a brewer and a hospitaller were among the very first people to set foot on the soil of Ireland following the Great Flood'[2].
This was further acknowledged by the Celts as ‘One of the most honoured ranks in Ancient Celtic society was that of 'briugu', or 'hospitaller', who was only worthy of the status if he had 'a never-dry cauldron, a dwelling on a public road and a welcome to every face.'[3]
In more recent times the Irish Pub developed into a resemblance of what we have today. Although banned in the early 19th Century by British legislation, pubs naturally began to flourish as a form of opposition. Not only did the local pub offer ale it also provided essentials such as food and hardware items. Indeed before the arrival of supermarkets ‘the Irish Licensed trade sold 95 per cent of all foodstuffs and consumable household requisites used in the country. Thus the pub cemented itself as the cornerstone of the local community'[4].
The Irish pub has always been considered as a place to find a warm welcome, a place to listen to irish music, a central point for the local community to gather and exchange stories and indeed gossip. Throughout its history the Irish pub has faced many challenges on all levels, increasingly in the present climate, with the demise of the Celtic Tiger and the smoking ban, but with around 13,000 pubs throughout the island of Ireland and thousands more springing up throughout the world in an attempt to recapture its authenticity, it may be able to withstand the threat, and again flourish.[5]
Bibliography
The story of the Irish Pub by Cian Molloy, Liffey Press
The World of the Tavern: Public Houses in Early Modern Europe, Beat A. Kumin and Ann Tlusty, Ashgate (2002)
In Search of the Craic: One Man's Pub Crawl Through Irish Music, Colin Irwin, Andre Deutsch (2004)
External Links
[3]- An online directory of Irish Pubs
[4]- Vintners' Federation of Ireland