High hopes in Leap for iconic music venue

Connollys of Leap is one of Co Cork’s most iconic music venues. Ellie O’Byrne talks past legends and future plans with owner Sam McNicholl.

THERE'S something about walking into Connolly's of Leap (pronounced Lep), Co Cork. It's not a big venue, with its capacity of just 150, but its 400-year-old walls are steeped in the stuff of Irish music legend, plastered with mementoes from bands that have passed through: signed gig posters, photos, the Pink Floyd hammer banner draped behind the small stage.

Sam McNicholl settles himself on a sofa upstairs on the mezzanine, looks around, and points out a colourful portrait painted on one wall. "That's my grandparents on their wedding day. And down there, on the right, is the room my mother was born in."