The Long Valley: A pub with a history as long as its bar counter

It’s a pub with a counter almost as long as its history, a meeting place that has become as synonymous with the festive season as carol singing, traffic congestion, and mince pies.

As well as its doorstep sandwiches, the Long Valley owes some of its fame to the celebrated Father Theobald Mathew, whose greatest effort — and greatest failure — was his attempt to bring sobriety to the city.

When Father Mathew established the Cork Total Abstinence Society in 1838 he probably was not surprised that a section of the city’s drinking classes saw it as a challenge.