A toast to Arthur and to sobriety

THEY hailed it as a toast to Arthur but for many midday imbibers it meant a toast to sobriety as pubs around the country closed for an hour yesterday afternoon to prepare for a ticket-only invite to a party celebrating the life of Arthur Guinness.

“What’s going on, like?” asked one regular in the Bróg pub on Cork’s Oliver Plunkett Street. “I only came in for a quick one and now I have to move. It’s like closing time.”

He was not alone. From 4pm, doors in Guinness-only pubs were shut as bunting was raised to celebrate the life and legacy of Arthur Guinness, the man who bequeathed the famous drink to world.