A new era on the quay at James Long’s bar!
CATHAL Ó FIANNACHTA THE NEW PROPRIETOR AT RE-OPENED LONG’S BAR
Source: The Kerryman – 5th June 2019 – Declan Malone
ONE of Dingle’s older pubs began a new life last Friday when Cathal Ó Fiannachta from Ventry opened the door to James Long’s bar, which has been extensively refurbished over the past three years.
The bar, which has one of the most enviable locations in Dingle, looks straight down the pier and was once the haunt of local fishermen and foreign sailors who made it their first port of call after stepping off their boats.
During much of the period of Dingle’s development as a tourist destination the pub was rarely open and so it remained an untouched relic of the past until now.
In the refurbishment that has just been completed, the pub was gutted and rebuilt to modern standards, but with a view to retaining its former character. Echoes of the former pub still remain in some of the old fittings that were salvaged, pint glasses from the 1960s and in an old accounts book that contains fascinating details about visiting ships and the drinking habits of local fishermen.
The accounts book reveals, for example, that the mate of the schooner ‘Emily’ paid 1s 3d for six pints of stout when the ship visited Dingle in 1900.
He clearly liked the pints in Long’s and was back on each of the following five days for more porter before setting sail again.
Long’s is now being leased by Cathal, who previously worked behind the bar in Paidí Ó Sé’s pub in Árd a Bhóthar.
He will still be serving pints to sailors – and anyone else who ventures in – but they can also sit down to a meal in the pub or in the upstairs restaurant where the fare includes the best of Cístí Ceann Trá bread and scones baked by Cathal’s father, Muiris.
