{"id":194550,"date":"2025-12-16T11:05:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/194550\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T11:05:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:05:23","slug":"we-need-help-or-a-huge-number-of-pubs-will-close-in-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/194550\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We need help or a huge number of pubs will close in the future…’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albert Lynch\u2019s, owned by Joy and Denis Murphy, sits on a bend of William O\u2019Brien Street in Mallow, next to the courthouse, its facade largely unchanged for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been a pub. We think it goes back to the mid-1800s. It was a Protestant school before that. From around 1851 or 1856, it became a pub,\u201d explained Denis.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He is the current owner, but he is careful about how he frames that role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the great-grandson of Albert Lynch,\u201d he says. \u201cI came back and renovated, but this place was never just one person. It was always passed on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albert Lynch married a Barbara Brown, whose family had owned the premises before him, Denis explains.<\/p>\n

From there, the pub passed down through Albert\u2019s daughter Ellen Lynch, Denis\u2019s grandmother, who kept her father\u2019s name over the door even after marrying Dominic Murphy, the son of the auctioneer next door.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe kept the Lynch name on the pub,\u201d Denis says.<\/p>\n

Growing up, he spent much of his childhood living above the pub with his grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived with her here on and off, I\u2019d come down from school and give her a hand. She was on her own and she ran it,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

It was a classic market pub, with Mallow\u2019s weekly mart taking place a stone\u2019s throw away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had a Tuesday mart. You\u2019d get the drovers in first. They were here early because it was freezing cold.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe had an early licence. Nana had stables at the back and she\u2019d give them hay and straw for their horses. There were curtains that could be pulled across. The counter went straight across.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers would come in to do business and they wanted privacy. Money was being passed. They didn\u2019t want to mix with the drovers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women socialised separately in those days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe snug was only for ladies. Farmers\u2019 wives would go in there. They were served through the hatch. This went on right up into the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DenisDenis and Joy Murphy outside Albert Lynch’s pub in Mallow. Pictures: Noel Sweeney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Denis did not grow up expecting to take over the pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went away and did my own thing,\u201d he says. \u201cI was in AIB for ten years. I had started hotel management in Galway before that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always loved hospitality. My dad wasn\u2019t going to take it over. He was an accountant. He never worked in the pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a family meeting. We were going to sell it for small money. I took a career break. I went around the country with a pal of mine. I looked at pubs, designs, spoke to publicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a dream, but I never pulled a pint.<\/p>\n

The renovation began, and it was completed in December, 1997.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only closed for about five weeks. We kept the front exactly the same,\u201d says Denis.<\/p>\n

The materials tell the story.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe went to salvage yards. The floors came from the Lee Baths. The timber is pitch pine from an old mill. Every cornice piece is separate. They\u2019re heavy.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted natural light, but privacy too. It\u2019s totally different during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Albert Lynch\u2019s has its roots as a market town pub, these days its customer base is much wider.<\/p>\n

\"DenisDenis and Joy Murphy outside Albert Lynch\u2019s, in Mallow. \tPicture: Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

Mallow is a market town in the heart of north Cork, People come from everywhere, Doneraile, Killavullen, Kanturk, and Abbeyfeale,\u201d says Denis.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolicitors from the courthouse drank here. So did road crews, factory staff, farmers and townspeople,\u201d Denis adds.<\/p>\n

The closure of the mart in 2007 marked the end of an era for the town, and for Albert Lynch\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was very sad,\u201d says Joy Murphy. \u201cA lot of elderly farmers had met here all their lives. They said they\u2019d never all meet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the entertainment business. That\u2019s what we are. Poker nights, quizzes, board games, music, sport, parties, the calendar is full.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have music on Fridays and Saturdays. The best of local talent. Acoustic mainly,\u201d says Denis. .<\/p>\n

He tells me about the Draft Rebate Scheme that may offer a lifeline to the pub industry in these difficult times, when many are closing down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a Draft Rebate Scheme being talked about by the Vintners Federation of Ireland. They\u2019d give a rebate based on the number of pints sold. It would help pay rates. My rates are \u20ac14,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without it, closures will continue, warns Denis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t come in, a huge number of wet pubs will close,\u201d he predicts.<\/p>\n

As for a succession plan at Albert Lynch\u2019s pub?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo interest at the moment,\u201d he says. \u201cOur daughters are doing their own things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Albert Lynch\u2019s, owned by Joy and Denis Murphy, sits on a bend of William O\u2019Brien Street in Mallow,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,10414,80],"class_list":["post-194550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pub","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194550","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=194550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}