Canary in the coal-mine! The demise of the Irish Pub.
Dessie O'Brien, whose pub in Kilrickle, between Loughrea and Aughrim, like thousands of others around the country, is Covidly-closed until the 1st of September, at least.
This man has put his all into keeping a beautiful, historic, culturally important rural pub alive. Over the past few years he has absorbed the missing grocery, the out of business newsagent, the the closed post office, and the non-existent coffee shop in the little village into his pub, re-inventing his welcoming hostelry as a catch-all, sell-all, serve-all, help-all 'general store and pub', a haven to provide a place of welcome and support for the good people of this rural hinterland, forgotten and by-passed, consigned to the rural dung-heap, so maligned by urban politicians, upwardly mobile urban civil servants and uncaring urban media.
Yet the people remain the same, strong, resilient, faithful, christian, talented, industrious, hard-working, friendly, community-oriented country folk, who like nothing better than to throw off the cares of a long day tending their farms (or double-jobbing to keep their farms), by popping into their 'local', for a pint and a chat, a friendly catch-up, a physical and conversational interaction, a local news bulletin not covered by RTE or GalwayBayFM, a face-to-face dialogue with a real, not a virtual 'friend'.
Psychologically, this pub (and all the others like it) is on the front-line, it is the tipping point, the fracture-joint, the point of no-return, for rural Ireland.
This crisis is akin in every way to the worthy efforts to 'save the corncrake and the curlew'. The rural pub is now firmly on the endangered list, threatened with imminent extinction!
Who cares you say! Who indeed... but mark my words, when these unimportant, unassuming, unnecessary rural pubs fail, close and disappear, and the dust settles, you will then be able to see the long line of dominoes tilt, and tip, and fall, bringing with them a treasury of cultural and community icons, the traditional music, song and dance scene, the art of story-telling, the local history buffs, the animal husbanders, the quaint cottiers, the characters, the quiet men, the wise women, the happy-go-lucky kids, the drop-outs and the geniuses, the cute hoors and the spiritual believers, the farmers, and the farm-hands, the hermits and the herb-growers, all of whom form and inform the very essence of rural Ireland, all of whom rely on the soon-to-be forgotten Irish Pub.
My words aside, this two photograph speaks volumes.The poignancy of these two images of Dessie O'Brien's empty, closed pub in Kilrickle brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat tonight.
This man has put his all into keeping a beautiful, historic, culturally important rural pub alive. Over the past few years he has absorbed the missing grocery, the out of business newsagent, the the closed post office, and the non-existent coffee shop in the little village into his pub, re-inventing his welcoming hostelry as a catch-all, sell-all, serve-all, help-all 'general store and pub', a haven to provide a place of welcome and support for the good people of this rural hinterland, forgotten and by-passed, consigned to the rural dung-heap, so maligned by urban politicians, upwardly mobile urban civil servants and uncaring urban media.
Yet the people remain the same, strong, resilient, faithful, christian, talented, industrious, hard-working, friendly, community-oriented country folk, who like nothing better than to throw off the cares of a long day tending their farms (or double-jobbing to keep their farms), by popping into their 'local', for a pint and a chat, a friendly catch-up, a physical and conversational interaction, a local news bulletin not covered by RTE or GalwayBayFM, a face-to-face dialogue with a real, not a virtual 'friend'.
Psychologically, this pub (and all the others like it) is on the front-line, it is the tipping point, the fracture-joint, the point of no-return, for rural Ireland.
This crisis is akin in every way to the worthy efforts to 'save the corncrake and the curlew'. The rural pub is now firmly on the endangered list, threatened with imminent extinction!
Who cares you say! Who indeed... but mark my words, when these unimportant, unassuming, unnecessary rural pubs fail, close and disappear, and the dust settles, you will then be able to see the long line of dominoes tilt, and tip, and fall, bringing with them a treasury of cultural and community icons, the traditional music, song and dance scene, the art of story-telling, the local history buffs, the animal husbanders, the quaint cottiers, the characters, the quiet men, the wise women, the happy-go-lucky kids, the drop-outs and the geniuses, the cute hoors and the spiritual believers, the farmers, and the farm-hands, the hermits and the herb-growers, all of whom form and inform the very essence of rural Ireland, all of whom rely on the soon-to-be forgotten Irish Pub.
My words aside, this two photograph speaks volumes.The poignancy of these two images of Dessie O'Brien's empty, closed pub in Kilrickle brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat tonight.
This poignant photograph of the empty pub reminded me of a song from the musical 'Les Miserables'..
'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables'.....
'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables'.....
