{"id":127850,"date":"2025-11-08T01:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T01:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/127850\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T01:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T01:33:07","slug":"north-cork-residents-intend-to-buy-last-pub-in-cullen-village-to-combat-social-isolation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/127850\/","title":{"rendered":"North Cork residents intend to buy last pub in Cullen village to combat social isolation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A small village in North Cork has set about battling social isolation among its residents by trying to buy and reopen the last pub in the area.<\/p>\n<p>Locals in the tiny village of Cullen are to form a fundraising committee to purchase the former Fleming\u2019s Tavern, which closed its doors last September.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Damian Hickey, one of the organisers of the campaign, said Cullen boasted five pubs not so long ago. It also had three shops, a petrol station, and a post office, which have all closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The pub, also known as Art O\u2019Connor\u2019s, and its adjoining four-bed house are up for sale for \u20ac300,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cWe know that it is a viable business because the previous owner did a very good trade there,\u201d said Mr Hickey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">He and others in the group have already sought advice from other communities that have bought out their local pubs, such as in Kilteely, Co Limerick, and Dromid, Co Kerry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Mr Hickey said the expectation is that they will form a limited company with shareholders who will vote in directors to oversee the running of the pub.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about the impact not having a pub has on social isolation for older people,\u201d said Mr Hickey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\n            There used to be a group of eight or nine men in their 70s who would meet in Art O\u2019Connor\u2019s regularly for a game of cards and a chat.\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cThey have been put at a disadvantage since its closure. It has upset them. We also want there to be a place for the young people to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">While the project is in a \u201cvery embryonic stage\u201d, he is hopeful that it will get good backing from locals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cWe have a great community spirit in Cullen,\u201d said Mr Hickey. \u201cWe have a very good GAA club, a fine community centre, and a modern national school and creche. We also have a very good Tidy Towns association and special needs association and a pipe band, which has won world titles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The village has a population of fewer than 100 people and the parish has approximately 400.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Local Fianna F\u00e1il councillor Bernard Moynihan said he hopes the Cullen initiative works out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cTen years ago, there were seven pubs in Knocknagree,\u201d he said. \u201cNow there are only two and one only opens on weekends. Boherbue is down to one. Banteer, and Rathcoole have none. I think a community without a pub loses a bit of its soul.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A small village in North Cork has set about battling social isolation among its residents by trying to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74989,79,61,60,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-127850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-rural-affairs","9":"tag-cork-news","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}