{"id":409752,"date":"2026-04-21T09:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/409752\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:20:09","slug":"i-love-running-a-pub-but-price-of-a-pint-must-be-kept-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/409752\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I love running a pub … but price of a pint must be kept down\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Leo Spratt took over a pub in Carrigtwohill 28 years ago, he didn\u2019t have too many \u2018locals\u2019 to call upon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived here, there were only 1,500 people in the village,\u201d says Leo. \u201cThere are 10,000 people living here now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s quite an increase!<\/p>\n

When I called in late one afternoon, it was plain to see that Jack Spratt\u2019s on the village\u2019s Main Street is a hostelry where pints are shared, names remembered, and where laughter flows as easily as the Guinness.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that Leo has been down the road of the Jack Spratt nursery rhyme being quoted to him?<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, I have!\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

He may not eat fat, but is he living off the fat of the land, being in the pub business for almost three decades?<\/p>\n

\"BarBar worker Marie Wilkinson and Leo Spratt in Jack Spratt\u2019s Bar in Main Street, Carrigtwohill. They take pride in knowing their customers\u2019 names and drink choices. \t Picture: Jim Coughlan<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pub trade is doing OK,\u201d says Leo, who used to be on the road when he worked as a rep for Cadbury\u2019s. My dad was a sales rep too and I decided that life wasn\u2019t for me. I decided to work for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Carrigtwohill?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was recommended to me by locals,\u201d says Leo. \u201cIt is a great little village where everyone is friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so little any more though? The increase in its population and the rail connection to Cork must be good for business?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bulk of my customers are 98% locals,\u201d says Leo, who has created a shared community hub where conversations and comfort can be enjoyed, providing a vital defence against rural isolation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy staff, and our seven part-timers, know everyone by name, and often we know what they want to drink before they even ask!\u201d<\/p>\n

The staff enjoy job satisfaction at Jack Spratt\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are all fantastic,\u201d says Leo. \u201cThey all look out for each other. Some of them are with me between 15 years and well over 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marie Wilkinson, working behind the bar for 23 years, nods her head in agreement as she drops the \u2018usual\u2019 on the counter for her customer who is content at a quiet stool bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know all our customers, and we enjoy chatting to them about their day, their weekend, or just the weather,\u201d says Marie.<\/p>\n

However, Leo has noted some changes to footfall in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old timers are a dying breed which is such a pity,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn pre-covid days we knew between 20 and 50 of the great characters coming in who lived in the village. Now we know only two or three of them. After covid they never returned.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Not even on pension day?<\/p>\n

\u201cSeldom,\u201d says Leo.<\/p>\n

He welcomes clientele from further afield.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are passing through going to Fota or to Cobh, for instance, often stop off here for a beverage,\u201d says Leo. \u201cThey like to shoot the breeze and find out what activities or attractions they can discover in East Cork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Street, Carrigtwohill, is a busy, buzzing throughfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaddy Powers is next door, and people are always popping in and out of there. And then into us,\u201d says Leo.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a win-win, hopefully!<\/p>\n

\u201cIf GAA, rugby matches or horse-racing are on the TV, we always have a lot of punters in the bar who are interested in following the various sports,\u201d says Leo. \u201cLocal horse trainers Terence O\u2019Brien, Noel O\u2019Neill, and Don Brown are well known in the area, and they have a lot of followers. It\u2019s mad in here during Cheltenham! It\u2019s great fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customers can go away from the madding crowd into the lovely beer garden that also boasts it\u2019s own TV screen.<\/p>\n

\"LeoLeo Spratt outside his pub, Jack Spratt\u2019s Bar,on Main Street, Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork. He says the village has grown significantly in recent years. Picture: Jim Coughlan<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have music at the weekends which always provides lively sessions,\u201d says Leo. \u201cThe card players have their own table reserved. The pub can feel like a real community hub at times, with people watching matches, playing cards, enjoying each other\u2019s company, or having a well-deserved drink after a hard weeks\u2019 work. Jack Spratt\u2019s is a community space where everybody is made welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paudie, the local taxi driver who has passed away, was always made welcome. His photograph is in a cute little nook beside the bar counter.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knew Paudie,\u201d says Leo. \u201cHe was a great man. So obliging. There is a great opening for someone to operate a taxi service in the village.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Leo, who comes in to open up the pub every day, like about the business?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I like that I work for myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be 10,000 people here, but Carrigtwohill will always be a village.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo is proud of the place he calls home.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarrigtwohill won the Pride of Place in 2019,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a great community here. The St Patrick\u2019s Day Parade is always a great success. It\u2019s twice the size of the Midleton parade!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we host our Marymount gig, we could have a collection of 15 bands in the beer garden. The support is always phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo gets by with a little help from his friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoors beer is our best seller here in the pub,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company were really good to me and really helped me in so many ways when I was doing up the pub. They are fantastic to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does he see the pub business evolving in the future?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt it can be a hard trade to be in,\u201d says Leo.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think the breweries have to try and control price rises in the drinks\u2019 industry. I can see the pint costing \u20ac10 in ten years.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

However, the future of Carrigtwohill looks good all round for business and leisure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more businesses opening here all the time,\u201d says Leo.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchools are growing and the infrastructure is improving. It\u2019s great for us and it\u2019s great for Carrigtwohill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo is looking to the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a derelict building out the back which I am going to renovate to create a hatch into the beer garden for food to be served. That\u2019s down the road in the summer months. So yes, there will be a lot going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, Leo is happy with his lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day of a match, I like to sit down with the locals and have a pint or two with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he support Cork or Waterford, where he grew up?<\/p>\n

Leo is diplomatic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am half and half! On the fence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Leo Spratt took over a pub in Carrigtwohill 28 years ago, he didn\u2019t have too many \u2018locals\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-409752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409752","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=409752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}