Tricks and treats at Hallowe’en pub

THEY come from far and wide to a dark, ghoulish, bloodstained corner of south Tipperary at this time of year, to a pub where the customer is as likely to be greeted by a skeleton as a waitress, and where the reputation goes beyond mere food and drink.

Lonergan’s bar in Fethard is now renowned as a place that comes into its own at Hallowe’en, a bar that has taken the theme and run with it on a yearly basis, to the delight and wonderment of locals and visitors alike.

From vampire bats to mummies, a skeletal bride and groom to rodents and spiders, ‘blood’ on the toilet walls to skulls oozing steam and smoke, from a ‘graveyard’ to a ‘barman’ who would not look out of place in Jack Nicholson’s The Shining — it’s all here.