Where East meets eats in Midleton

CELEBRATING a 40-year anniversary in a business is a great reason to celebrate, but in the case of chef, restaurateur and bar owner, Finín O’Sullivan, he’s using the occasion as a chance to retire, and bow out gracefully, having seen the East Cork town of Midleton come of age during his tenure at the famed Main Street premises.

When he started, on May 1 in 1978, he says there wasn’t another food business in the town: now after decades of growth “there’s 58 restaurants and cafés...and six Turkish barbers”, and all are getting a cut of the cake, Mr O’Sullivan adds.