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.

A West Cork bar and music venue with three generations of family ownership along the Wild Atlantic Way has been selected as the focus for an international design competition, to reimagine it as a 21st century ‘Irish Cult Music Venue’.

PASSING through the village of Leap in West Cork, you might be forgiven for not knowing how much musical history is contained within the unassuming pub near the bottom of the gently inclining thoroughfare.