Lights, camera, craic as Limerick pub opens early for morning TV

THERE aren’t too many public houses in Limerick that are thronged early in the morning but The Street Bar in Kilteely is no ordinary pub.

Virgin Media’s Ireland AM broadcaster and Limerick’s own Deric Ó h’Artagáin, from Ballyneety, paid a visit to meet some of the pub’s 26 owners and locals.

A documentary entitled The Pub That Refused To Die premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival earlier this year so now it was time for the TV cameras to get rolling.

When Ahern’s pub came on the market in 2025, there were initial fears that it spelled the end for the well-known licensed premises.

However, 25 men, and one woman, joined together to invest €300,000 to keep the doors of their local open and renamed it The Street Bar.

After the story appeared in the Leader and on Limerick Live it was picked up on in Dublin and appeared in practically every national newspaper with a number of front pages. RTE and Virgin Media reporters and cameramen followed suit.

It even made headlines across the water as The Guardian’s Ireland correspondent Rory Carroll and photographer Johnny Savage took the well trodden media path to Kilteely.

But the pub’s proprietors aren’t sick of the media just yet as they took to social media to thank Deric and the team at Ireland AM for visiting.

“What a fantastic morning we had! A huge thank you to Deric Ó h’Artagáin and the team from Ireland AM for coming down and shining a light on our village.

“Thanks so much to everyone who came out and got involved – the support and turnout really showed what our community is all about.”

They gave a special mention to the children and staff of Kilteely NS and Cloverfield NS for getting the day off to such a brilliant start, and to Tom’s Butchers for the hospitality and refreshments.

Tom McNeill has turned the pub’s shop area into a modern butcher’s so now locals can wet their whistle and buy all the ingredients for their dinner.

The post on The Street Bar’s social media concludes with: “Mornings like this remind us of the incredible community spirit we have here – something to be very proud of.”

It continues the ethos of why the 26-strong syndicate decided to purchase the pub in the first place. They are drawn from all walks of life – from farmers to lawyers, and from tradesmen to accountants – but not one publican amongst them! But what they have in common is a pride of place and a wish to see the village and the local community thrive and develop to its full potential.

Noel O’Dea, one of five directors, said their tagline is “a community working together”.

Fellow director, Liam Carroll BL said: “We took the view that every community needs a place to come together.”

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