Pub lays on festive dinner for free

A lonely Christmas fuelled by chicken nuggets and chips has provided the spark for a pub’s gesture of providing Christmas dinners to anyone who requests one.

Casey’s Bar in Clonakilty, Co Cork, will rustle up full Christmas dinners to take away on Christmas Eve for reheating on December 25, with owner James Casey saying that the food will be available to anyone seeking it from 12.30pm to 8.30pm tomorrow.

The 30-year-old, from Kiskeam near Millstreet, has been running Casey’s for the past four years and is the sixth generation of his family to be involved in the pub trade.

He said the inspiration for the idea was a less-than-glamorous Christmas in Perth in western Australia.

“I was in Australia years ago, for four years, and one Christmas a load of people went home so there was only four fellas left,” he said.

“We said we would all shop Christmas Eve and make a proper effort. We had the recipes from the mums and dads and on Christmas Eve we went up to the supermarket and it was closed. Every one of them in Perth was closed. So we were left with what was in the freezer, chicken nuggets and chips.

“The TV we had, 99% of the time, was fine. On Christmas Day we had pictures and no sound. It was a very lonely Christmas. We were looking across the room at each other.”

Casey’s and its namesake bar in Kinsale regularly host fundraisers and quizzes and James said the idea of offering a take-home Christmas dinner prepared at the bar would be a way of giving back to the community.

“I thought there are people living alone at Christmas and they wouldn’t know how to cook a dinner for themselves,” he said.

“If they had the dinner it might cheer them up. Anyone that comes to the door we will try our best to give them a dinner.”

This includes “the full works,” he said, including turkey, ham and stuffing, with waiting times of around 10 minutes.

The food will be provided in microwaveable containers or can be reheated in the oven.

“We have a lot of customers who come in most days for food,” said James. “Where are they going to get their dinner Christmas Day? It is for them as well.

“If it is beneficial to people I can’t see any reason why not again next year.”