Centuries-old Cork bar to reopen doors after 'toughest six months'
Brian and Louise Kenny of the Boothouse Bar, which dates back to at least 1773, are getting ready for reopening. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
The family owners of one of the oldest bars in the country have been on tenterhooks in recent weeks, wondering if they were looking at their last call.
But, instead, the Boothouse Bar at Upper Glanmire in Cork is ready and raring to go to make up for six months of lost time.
One of the only establishments in the country to still have a thatched roof, the Boothouse Bar has been in the Kenny family for around 100 years.
Current proprietors Brian and Louise Kenny took over in 2008, having been handed the reins by Brian’s parents Derry and Bernie, who ran it for 35 years before that.
The Boothouse Bar dates back to at least 1773 and has been in the Kenny family, barring a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, for well over 100 years.
It has survived the Great Famine, two world wars, several recessions, the smoking ban, and stricter drink driving laws, but it looked like Covid-19 had been a bridge too far, according to Brian.
“It has been the toughest six months, waiting to see if we had a future or not," he said.
"It can be traced back almost 250 years, so there is huge history attached to it. Generations of families have come here for decades, and we worried that it could be coming to the end.”
The Boothouse Bar is a symbol of rural Ireland and its struggle for survival in the pandemic, he said.
“We cannot underestimate how vital pubs like ours are for rural Ireland. This has been a community hub for hundreds of years. That missing community link has been all too apparent over the past six months. Where local people would meet regularly to socialise with their long-time friends, many who are older, suddenly it was gone,” he said.
Most difficult was missing landmark days that would have been celebrated in the Boothouse Bar, according to Brian.
“The hardest part has been missing out on occasions. This is where our customers, friends, and family come to mark the milestones in their lives. Weddings, funerals, christenings, birthdays. Only last month Louise’s parents were 50 years married, one of our friends turned 50, and one of our longest serving customers, who is more like a member of the family, turned 70. My own father turned 80 in July," he said.
"One of the hardest things to deal with has been the uncertainty. We have been left completely in the dark since the very outset.
“However, we now have to look forward and focus on the brighter days hopefully ahead. This has been a bar that people gather in, especially older people on a Sunday night. We want to welcome our community back through our doors, and we cannot wait to do so.”
Brian said the Boothouse Bar is one of the lucky ones.
“There are many across the country that will not have survived, and we must think of them and how their livelihoods have been taken. It could very well have been us, so we are thankful we get to go back to doing what we love.”
