{"id":627466,"date":"2026-09-17T12:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627466\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T12:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:34:14","slug":"throwback-thursday-was-this-the-greatest-ever-pub-in-cork-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627466\/","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday: Was this the greatest ever pub in Cork city?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have another identification of an extra in the 1954 film Moby Dick, after photos featured in Throwback Thursday<\/a> in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Dominic Galvin saw the previous columns and wrote to say that he recognised one of the men in one of the pictures taken when the movie was shot in the Cork coastal town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man standing fifth from left is my great grandfather, and his name is Richard (Dick) White,\u201d said Dominic.<\/p>\n

\u201cDick lived at Chapel Lane in Youghal and was ex Royal-Navy and subsequently Merchant Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominic, that is great, and thank-you! Two down, several more to go!<\/p>\n

And, by the way, do you have your great grandfather\u2019s life story written down anywhere? Honourable and exciting careers like his deserve to be recorded and shared.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Chad, who identified Dick Donegan for us as another extra in that legendary film, has written again with a query for readers:<\/p>\n

\u201cDick used to live on Rockboro Road, not far from our house on Old Blackrock Road,\u201d said Chad.<\/p>\n

\u201cApart from playing in dance halls, etc, he was quite a character, I seem to remember.<\/p>\n

\"ExtrasExtras on the set of the film Moby Dick at Youghal, Co. Cork, in July, 1954. A Throwback Thursday reader has identified his great grandfather Richard (Dick) White standing fifth from the left<\/p>\n

I was too young to take much interest, but recall him standing for election and would be interested in knowing what party he stood for – if any!<\/p>\n

\u201cWas he ever elected, or indeed whether it was just to the local council or whatever?\u201d<\/p>\n

Over to you, readers! Who can recall any further details of Dick Donegan\u2019s career? Write and tell us.<\/p>\n

We have had plenty of responses to our feature last week on Cork\u2019s old and vanished pubs too.<\/p>\n

Johnny O\u2018Mahony wrote: \u201cHi Jo, what about the Swan And Cygnet? Characters from all over Cork through the \u201970s and \u201980s?\u201d<\/p>\n

We immediately responded, asking for details of these characters, and anything else he can remember about the great old Swan And Cygnet, on the corner of Patrick Street and Lavitt\u2019s Quay, with its unique watering trough for dogs, designed by none other than Seamus Murphy, but Johnny hasn\u2019t replied yet.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, though, Rick Davitt chimed in on the self-same establishment:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest of them all, The Swan And Cygnet. Oh, how I miss the characters, the music, Buddy Doran, and the great pint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA sign for The Swan And Cygnet bar in Patrick Street, Cork, in March, 1975, including the name of the landlord Jim Clancy<\/p>\n

Strolling around our city these days, he says, can be heartbreaking: \u201cWalking down Oliver Plunkett Street, have you seen the awful shops and their signs?<\/p>\n

\u201cVape shops and phone shops, that\u2019s all you see. It is so sad. It would certainly not win any awards now.<\/p>\n

\u201cPana is starting to look well in green, though. The lighting columns are awful, but at least those electronic trees are gone. (That was some joke. Like, when it was suggested to put gondolas on The Lough, and some bright boy said yeah, but who is going to feed them?)\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed for further memories of bygone Cork, Rick recalled a few favourites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember Queen\u2019s Old Castle. My grandmother worked there. Did you know that accommodation was provided on site for the drapery assistants, a lot of whom were up from the country?\u201d<\/p>\n

No, we didn\u2019t know that, Rick and it\u2019s a fascinating fact. Living over the shop! They\u2019d have no excuse for arriving in late, would they?<\/p>\n

I seem to recall that in Ger Fitzgibbon\u2019s book Songs For A Burning City, those live-in workers are mentioned too, for several businesses. It must have been a regular feature of city jobs back then.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Munster Arcade stood where Penneys is now,\u201d continues Rick. \u201cThere were no tills at the counters. Instead, the money and the invoice were put in a metal container and were whisked away by magic to the cash office. A brief delay, and the receipt and change made the journey in reverse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was, of course, a pneumatic tube system, using air pressure and suction, but it was a thrill for us kids to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick adds: \u201cThen there was Roches Stores with its distinctive red and white bags. I well remember that you never asked for a plastic bag at home. You always said, \u2018Have you a Roches Stores bag?\u2019 That was to put your football boots in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pubs that are no longer with us?\u201d asks Rick. \u201cOh, The Crystal in Gillabbey street, what a fine real pub. A great favourite of Seamus Horgan, what a character, may he rest in peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cubiculo in Drawbridge Street. I think the translation was a bedroom, which seems a strange name for a pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd of course The Western Star on Western Road, that was a great sporting pub, rugby in particular.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere was a great story that Noel Cantwell, the fantastic footballer and a local hero, captained Manchester United to win the FA cup in 1963, and brought it to be filled in the Star.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s good that at least some of the real pubs are still with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gosh yes, the Western Star, owned by rugby international \u2018Starry\u2019 Crowley. Who could have believed that such a legendary establishment, beloved of generations of hard-working (?) students, would go, disappear forever, with all its memories, in the face of unstoppable redevelopment?<\/p>\n

It even featured in a revue song at UCC back in the 1960s if memory serves us right:<\/p>\n

\n Let\u2019s skip this lecture, do a bunk,\n <\/p>\n

\n Mummy wouldn\u2019t like it!\n <\/p>\n

\n Oh do come on, don\u2019t be a funk.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mummy wouldn\u2019t like it!\n <\/p>\n

\n Just think of Starry\u2019s creamy pint,\n <\/p>\n

\n The thought of it nearly makes me faint,\n <\/p>\n

\n OK, I\u2019ll come but not for long,\n <\/p>\n

\n Mummy wouldn\u2019t like it!\n <\/p>\n

Hang on, we were just talking about the Swan And Cygnet, weren\u2019t we? Who remembers the Black Swan \u2013 wasn\u2019t it on Anglesea Street or am I getting mixed up? Yes, surely it was there.<\/p>\n

When this writer was young, there was actually a butter called Black Swan, and I used to think it must have been made at that pub. Well, as a child you wouldn\u2019t think there was anything odd in that.<\/p>\n

In fact, Black Swan butter was packed on Union Quay, at the premises of Dowdall & O\u2019Mahony back then. No connection with the pub at all, at all \u2013 unless of course some of the workers called in there after knocking off for the day!<\/p>\n

I went over to the Pubs & Bars of Cork City & County page on Facebook to check and, as always, found some great detail on the pub.<\/p>\n

I particularly liked the comment from someone who remembered being refused a drink downstairs there, because he looked too young, but being granted one upstairs in The Alderman! It was one of the city\u2019s famous old early morning houses, called into by many dockers on the way home from the night shift. Haven\u2019t too many of those left, have we?<\/p>\n

Now, here is an entertaining piece sent to me by a friend who thought it was just right for Throwback Thursday. It is, apparently, translated from French, but one would suspect Canadian French, as the style and detail suggest North America rather than Europe. Anyway, the sentiment is absolutely spot on. See what you think:<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t argue with people over 60. Really, avoid it. It\u2019s not just a matter of age: it\u2019s a genuine lesson in survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey grew up without Google, without home meal delivery, without personal development podcasts, and without an \u2018Undo\u2019 button. When something broke down, they\u2019d grab some duct tape, WD-40, a hammer, and put on such a determined face that even the broken appliance started doubting itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs kids, they could tell exactly what mood their mother was in just from the sound she made setting the frying pan on the stove – gently or with a slam. They were the generation of kids who walked home from school alone, with the house key around their necks and very clear instructions: reheat lunch and don\u2019t set the kitchen on fire.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAt ten years old, they could bike to the corner store, buy a bottle of milk for the neighbour, feed the dog, and still have time to play outside with friends until nightfall.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir knees were perpetually covered in scrapes, bruises, and streaks of antiseptic. Their universal first-aid kit? A quick rinse under the tap and a Band-Aid. As long as no bones were sticking out, everything was fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey drank straight from the hose, ate slices of bread slathered in butter and sugar, shared a single bottle of Coke among five, and somehow survived despite the total lack of sanitisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the generation that knows how to rewind an audio cassette with a pencil. The one that remembers the suspense of waiting a whole week for a movie to air on TV, because if you missed it\u2026 that was it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey recall rotary phones, massive paper phone books where you looked up a family\u2019s number, and the thrill of colour TV finally arriving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lived through party lines on telephones, typewriter ribbons, the first brick-sized cell phones, and then flip phones. And today, they might accidentally send you a seven-minute voice message where the first six minutes are mostly just their breathing and: \u2018Hello? Can you hear me?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd don\u2019t you dare laugh. Because without GPS, these folks could cross half the country with nothing but an old paper road map, a cooler full of sandwiches, and that deep-seated conviction that: \u2018The exit can\u2019t be too far now\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the absolute masters of household ingenuity. They know how to sew, tighten, glue, and fix just about anything. And somewhere in their closet, they\u2019ve got that legendary \u2018bag of bags\u2019 stuffed with plastic grocery bags, probably older than half the electronic gadgets you own.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cSo, leave people over 60 alone. They knew the world before the internet, then they learned to live in the one after. And through it all, they didn\u2019t just survive: they made do, adapted, and kept moving forward.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you rummage through their pockets today, you\u2019ll probably find a mint candy, a neatly folded handkerchief, a painkiller \u2018just in case\u2019\u2026 and above all, a hard-earned wisdom that no app store will ever let you download.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, you will probably spot a few clues in there that this didn\u2019t originate from here in Ireland, but nevertheless the point is made. Our older generations have lived through times of almost seismic change, seeing wonderful cures invented for previously fatal illnesses, marvellous household inventions to take the hardship out of housework, world travel becoming a norm, but \u2013 and this is the vital bit \u2013 they have also lived through a very different earlier world, when times were hard, money was scarce, bank loans were unthinkable as well as unavailable, very few owned their own houses, a two-car family must have meant two doctors or two solicitors at the very least, and you never, ever, took it for granted that you would be looked after by the State or propped up if you had been careless with your income.<\/p>\n

A fridge was an expensive luxury, the radio was coddled and coaxed to keep running, and damaged household items went to dad or grandad to be repaired. You mended your own clothes as a matter of course, and if you were lucky enough to get a bicycle, it was often second-hand, as they had a value too.<\/p>\n

Today, when you see the very latest shiny bike thrown casually down by the footpath on a housing estate, you can\u2019t help but remember a time when such items were of enormous value and cared for as such.<\/p>\n

Do they even mend punctures any more, today\u2019s kids? Or do they throw the whole thing into a skip and demand a new one?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hear your views. Email jokerrigan1@gmail.com, or leave a message on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com\/echolivecork.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We have another identification of an extra in the 1954 film Moby Dick, after photos featured in Throwback…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,85232,61,60,60499,10414,47300],"class_list":["post-627466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cork-nostalgia","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nostalgia","tag-pub","tag-throwback-thursday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627466","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=627466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}