THERE is clear evidence that the licensed trade across Ireland has been undergoing fundamental shifts over recent years, with particularly sharp differences emerging between urban and rural districts.
The indications are that bars in our cities and towns are as busy as ever, but many of their counterparts in villages and country areas are either facing an uncertain future or have already gone.
All this matters because, while alcohol plainly offers at least as many risks as advantages, rational arguments can be advanced that enjoying it in company brings social benefits and will usually be safer than drinking alone at home.
If the option of going to a pub and meeting friends no longer exists for a serious number of our citizens, it is reasonable to suspect that Irish society will change significantly and not necessarily for the better.
If the option of going to a pub and meeting friends no longer exists for a serious number of our citizens, it is reasonable to suspect that Irish society will change significantly and not necessarily for the better
I reflected on some related points after a recent trip to Dublin when it was obvious that many of the main bars in the city centre were not just thriving but packed to a level where restrictions on entry really should have been introduced at an early stage in the evening.
This was partly down to the pre-Christmas rush, but it would be rare to be in the capital on a Friday or Saturday night at any time of year and not find queues to get served in the key outlets, including my favoured destinations of O’Donoghue’s, Doheny and Nesbitt’s, McGrattan’s or Toner’s along Merrion Row and Baggott Street.
Belfast also has plenty of fine pubs, in the city centre and notably on the Ormeau Road, where the venerable institution that is the Errigle Inn celebrated its 90th birthday at the weekend.
I worked there while studying journalism back in the late 1970s, and, while my academic course provided all the necessary qualifications, I would certainly say that among the most crucial aspects of an education for life were gained in the Errigle.
Having had the previous experience of addressing the requirements of a demanding assortment of pub customers, dealing with the leaders of church and state as editor of The Irish News became much more straightforward.
The Errigle had a brilliant set of staff members in my time, with some going on to distinction in other fields, including one who became chief executive at Belfast City Council and another who was appointed as Queen’s University Pro Chancellor as well as becoming a Dame of the British Empire.
Saturday afternoons were a particularly hectic period in the large public bar, which was invariably surrounded by the buzz of animated conversation and, in the era long before the ban on cigarettes, palls of smoke.
The legal restrictions of the period meant that bookmakers, including the enormous branch of Eastwood’s directly opposite, could not show televised horse racing, so scores of punters placed their bets and sprinted back to the pub to watch the outcome over a few drinks.
It was not a location for the faint-hearted, and waiters serving drink and clearing glasses who inadvertently blocked the path of the gambling fraternity as they went about their urgent commitments were likely to be given short shrift.
There were also more diverse characters coming and going, and in the summer months it was not unusual to see uniformed Orange bandsmen sipping their pints close to but not necessarily in communication with staunch nationalists.
The Errigle still does well today, in common with its close neighbours, the Parador, the Pavilion, and Northern Lights, which all have their own charms, but a journey further south into the country will take you past plenty of outlets which have closed their doors.
I never thought that this process would be extended to my home village, but Annalong’s two fine and long-established bars, the Harbour, which has featured in numerous paintings because of its picturesque setting, and the Half Way House, closely connected to the GAA clubs of Mourne, regrettably both stopped trading earlier this year.
Similar trends have been witnessed across Ireland, with a considerable debate following over rural isolation as well as the loss of community infrastructure and what has justifiably been described as an informal welfare system.
There have been serious suggestions in the south that a minor levy on the biggest retailers, together with some government support, could allow the establishment of a trust to purchase businesses which are no longer commercially viable and turn them into social hubs.
Whether Stormont would be capable of displaying such imagination is open to question, but it would be a sad day if dropping into a pub or its equivalent was something which effectively could only happen in an urban setting.
n.doran@irishnews.com