Olympia’s Maureen is still going strong after 64 years behind the bar

At 88, the iconic theatre’s barmaid tells Margaret Carragher about the many stars she met, and how she bizarrely hid eight kids from the boss

IN Dublin’s Olympia Theatre images of celebrities past and present line the walls: Liam Neeson and Noel Coward; the Nolan Sisters, Bono and Ronnie Drew; Mr Pussy and the Fureys. There’s even a former president, Mary McAleese.

And, beaming alongside almost all of them is one Maureen Grant, 88-year-old stalwart of the Olympia and doyenne of its stalls bar where she first started working as a barmaid 64 years ago.