READ NEXT:\u00a0End of an Era: ‘More than just a bar,’ popular Tipperary pub closes after over 40 years<\/a><\/p>\nBertie, a native of Inagh, County Clare lived and worked in London for 15 years, then Dublin for a short while in 1982 before settling with his family in the village of Dundrum.<\/p>\n
\u201cI moved to London in 1966, the World Cup was on at the time. I then came back to do college in Dublin for a year. I lived in Northwest London when I got there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere used to be a ballroom where all the Irish used to meet there, they\u2019d have a modern side and a c\u00e9il\u00ed side, it was a massive place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe bought the pub from John J O\u2019Dwyer. It was being run by Peggy O’Dwyer at the time and was called ‘The Oulde Kitchen.’<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favourite thing about the pub was the company, and the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bertie, who is 77 years old, said he was more or less ready for retiring and selling Bertie\u2019s Bar, just before the Covid-19 lockdown began. The lockdown put his plans on hold until now, he said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only one pub in the village of Dundrum now, Bertie said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDundrum village also had the Golden Vale. This was run by the Crowe family for a long time. It had a very busy ballroom and everything, but that eventually changed hands and closed down in the early 2000s.”<\/p>\n
When asked to recall his most memorable moments from the past forty-three years, Bertie\u2019s son Martin puts it best.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the main events that happened in Dundrum were celebrated in the pub. We had many West hurling victories celebrated there.\u00a0It was the place you go to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were many darts teams that travelled around the county representing Bertie’s throughout the years.\u00a0The pub also held a regular game of cards that took place on Monday nights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Charity fundraisers, including shaveathons and a special one-off performance by the legendary guitarist and songwriter, Philip Donnelly.<\/p>\n
On the night of his retirement, Knockavilla Kickhams GAA representatives made a very special presentation to Bertie to mark his continuous support of the club over the past number of years.<\/p>\n
Bertie fondly recalls another memorable night for the village when a locally trained greyhound, ‘Ringa Hustle’, won the Greyhound Derby Final in Wimbledon in 1993. Many people flocked to the village to celebrate the win. These celebrations spilled out onto the street and went long into the early hours of the next day.<\/p>\n
Bertie and Martin said that after reading all of the farewell cards that Bertie received, one of the things they noticed was how important the pub was to many locals.<\/p>\n
A lot of locals wrote that they have so many fond memories of the happy times and important events they celebrated there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it was birthdays or weddings, that was their place,\u201d said Martin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere used to be lots of weddings in Dundrum House, if any of them were passing by they\u2019d pull up for a drink,\u201d said Bertie.<\/p>\n
The village became famous due to the showjumping horse called ‘Dundrum’ which was ridden and owned by Tommy Wade.<\/p>\n
Tommy Wade and Dundrum won various high profile competitions including Horse of the Year show and the Puissance competition at the RDS in Dublin.<\/p>\n
There is also a mural of the legendary showjumping combination painted on the side of the pub.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big thing in the village. I remember the horse then actually died and someone met someone and said \u2018I hear Dundrum is dead\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe person replied \u2018It was pretty lively last night!\u2019. The person meant the horse was dead, not the village. And the pub was fairly lively the night before\u201d remarked Bertie.<\/p>\n
The pub used to have groups play music every Saturday night for years, said Bertie. The pub was also known for its pool tables in its earlier years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had three pool tables when we bought it. We changed that to just one so it would be nearer the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what he\u2019ll miss the most about the pub, Bertie says it will be the company of his regulars who have supported his business throughout the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll miss the company in the pub. We had to cut the hours in recent years, there used to be a betting shop across the road and that was a great attraction. But he retired and it was a bit of a loss to the pub,\u201d explained Bertie.<\/p>\n
When asked what plans Bertie has for himself now he is finally retired, he says he hopes to visit family abroad.<\/p>\n
With one son living in Norway and another living in London, he will be kept busy planning visits.<\/p>\n
Although Bertie has retired, the new owners of the premises are keeping it open as a bar under the same name.<\/p>\n
Bertie and the Callinan family wish the new owners every success in the new chapter of this fine establishment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new chapter has begun for a local Dundrum business with the relaunch of Bertie\u2019s Bar, a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16844,61,60,80,9123,23123],"class_list":["post-208158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-dundrum","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology","tag-tipperary","tag-tipperary-community-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208158","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=208158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}