{"id":666831,"date":"2026-10-27T13:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T13:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/666831\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T13:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T13:22:12","slug":"the-pubs-of-cork-we-have-plans-for-a-new-plaza-and-community-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/666831\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pubs of Cork: ‘We have plans for a new plaza and community space’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fancy a game of pool at The Spreading Chestnut? Yep! If the table is good enough for the likes of Ken Doherty, it\u2019s good enough for me!<\/p>\n

The bar is situated in the pretty village of Cloughduv in mid-Cork, right at the crossroads of routes to Bandon, Ballincollig, Macroom, and Dunmanway.<\/p>\n

This vibrant and colourful village has seen its population grow in recent years with new developments, but has managed to keep the village feel.<\/p>\n

Self-contained, it has everything from successful sporting clubs, to a school, surgery, a church with bells that ring melodiously on the hour, a shop, and the family-run pub.<\/p>\n

The Spreading Chestnut, designed by renowned architect Bertie Thompson, got its name from the first line of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, The Village Blacksmith.\n <\/p>\n

The first of its eight verses goes:<\/p>\n

\n Under a spreading chestnut-tree\n <\/p>\n

\n The village smithy stands;\n <\/p>\n

\n The smith, a mighty man is he,\n <\/p>\n

\n With large and sinewy hands;\n <\/p>\n

\n And the muscles of his brawny arms\n <\/p>\n

\n Are strong as iron bands.\n <\/p>\n

You may recognise the design of The Spreading Chestnut as similar to other public houses created with the same aesthetic in the 1950s and \u201960s; timber-floored bar on one side and carpeted lounge on the other, and never the twain shall meet!<\/p>\n

Co-owner Berard Kelleher says: \u201cThere was precious little in the village when The Spreading Chestnut opened its doors on August 12, 1969, with one of the rarest of commodities in those days, a ladies\u2019 loo! Previous to this, you would be obliged to use the upstairs commode.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah Kelleher and his wife Nora ran the successful pub until their retirement, and then handed the reins to the next generation, who run it between them, Berard Kelleher, Dan Buckley, Finbarr and Linda Corkery make up the core group.<\/p>\n

Every family member at one time or another has been behind the bar, and even the current staff members have been there for generations.<\/p>\n

\"LindaLinda Corkery and Berard Kelleher with a painting of snooker star Ken Doherty, who visited the bar, and a poem on the wall based on the original that gave The Spreading Chestnut its name<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the mills and quarries, the pub became the central hub of the community and remains that to this day,\u201d Berard says, \u201ceven though many of the industries of the past have gone, the community has grown, with new housing developments bringing new customers and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berard\u2019s sister Bina adds: \u201cIn the \u201980s and \u201990s, during the summer, you would have an influx of visitors over from England on their holidays. Now our visitors are from all over Cork.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spreading Chestnut, like all good pubs, has adapted with the times and creates events to draw in the crowds. In recent years, they have hosted christenings, weddings, birthday parties, communion parties, and music festivals.<\/p>\n

Linda says the weekend trade is fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the huge seating area outside so families will come as it\u2019s a safe space,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a pizza van called Curly Stu\u2019s and a chipper van that trade here on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and the atmosphere is wonderful.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have music here on most weekends and it\u2019s lovely to see all the new residents calling for a tea or coffee. They can stroll up from the new development and meet one another. It is keeping our village vibrant and busy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

The last two weeks of August saw The Spreading Chestnut hosting a music festival that was a huge success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got numbers we never expected,\u201d Berard says, \u201cso we\u2019re hoping next year will be even bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of October, the pub will host a Halloween party that will again bring the community together.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need a reason to come out,\u201d Berard adds, \u201cso we provide it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cloughduv pub also has strong sporting ties.<\/p>\n

It stages dart championships, sponsors local sporting groups, and famous faces from the pool and snooker world have even popped in for a game or two!<\/p>\n

You just never know who you might meet – Cork ace Aaron Hill, former world champions Ken Doherty and Denis Taylor, and world under 23 pool champion Sean Walsh have all played on the baize, and Rapid Ricky Evans – the fastest darts player in the world – has also visited the bar.<\/p>\n

\"CorkCork snooker ace Aaron Hill in The Spreading Chestnut with local legend Maurice Walsh<\/p>\n

Ken Doherty is great company,\u201d Linda says, \u201che had great craic with the locals and was very humble when he got beaten by local lady Donna Madden in 2024! He\u2019s not just a snooker player, he\u2019s an entertainer, a lovely man.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of these pool events are organised by David Joyce from the Crucible Snooker Club in Blarney Street, Cork city.<\/p>\n

\"CorkCork snooker ace Aaron Hill (centre) on a visit to The Spreading Chestnut with some of the regulars<\/p>\n

Never ones to rest on their laurels, the family have huge plans for the future for the Spreading Chestnut.<\/p>\n

Berard explains: \u201cAll of the parking will be moved to the back so we can build a plaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a pharmacy and medical centre on one side of the plaza, two commercial units with an apartment building, and nine houses. The front of the bar will have a gorgeous public seating area with garden and paving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pub will have a new, large kitchen and a new extension. It\u2019s going to be a beautiful community space and a welcoming centre for our village.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Spreading Chestnut when it opened in Cloughduv. It boasted one of the rarest of commodities in those days, a ladies\u2019 loo, says Berard Kelleher<\/p>\n

He anticipates it will be summer, 2028, by the time all of the work is completed.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the family pub remains at the centre of the community, welcoming locals and visitors alike to watch sporting events on the large TVs, play pool, darts, rings, or just catch up with the news and with one another.<\/p>\n

The thriving village of Cloughduv is an example of a community keeping its tradition while looking to the future and enhancing its surroundings for all.<\/p>\n

The Spreading Chestnut hours are as follows: Monday is noon to close; Tuesday and Wednesday, 4pm to close; Thursday, Friday and Saturday, noon to close, and Sunday is 12.30pm to close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fancy a game of pool at The Spreading Chestnut? Yep! If the table is good enough for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-666831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666831","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=666831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}