[ad_1]
“The locals missed the pub and I missed the pub, I was alone,” said Mary O’Donovan, who was forced to close her namesake country pub for the first time in 45 years when the pandemic struck.
“It has been like a morgue in the community without being open. There was no pub open in the village, it was a great loss. We used to have big evenings here. ”
But the “great afternoons” may return soon.
Tomorrow, you can reopen in the small town of Ballinadee, Co Cork, and welcome friends and neighbors with the lively banter and sing late night songs that made your pub special.
The coronavirus extinguished the roaring fire that drew people in on cold nights, replacing it with the astringent smell of bleach and fresh paint as Ms. O’Donovan, now 74, made the most of the forced breakout by deep cleaning and the redecoration of its facilities.
“On busy weekends before, when I worked here alone, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t a week’s vacation be great?’ I never thought I would have to take a six-month vacation, “he said.
Ms O’Donovan, whose husband died 20 years ago, often runs the pub on her own, but with new Covid-19 regulations like table service, her sister-in-law and granddaughter will join her in helping her. .
“It would be desperate for pubs to close again for the winter. As the long nights go on, it gets very lonely without the local pub, “he said.
In another corner of the county, Maureen O’Sullivan was busy gathering the last bits and pieces in hopes of reopening The Strand pub.
“I really want to reopen on Monday,” he said.
“I am organizing everything. The latest deliveries are coming in and last night I was up all night doing a last minute cleaning and checking everything for social distancing. ”
O’Sullivan opened the country pub on the outskirts of Blarney in 2015 after a career in fashion and quickly developed a loyal customer base. The Strand was voted Cork’s local pub of the year in 2019.
The tavern has been receiving “constant” messages asking when it will reopen.
“Having the pub closed for six months left a huge void in the local community,” he said.
“The Strand was a true hub for the people. They would mark all the important events of their life here, when there was a church wedding, they would come here for tea and a snack, we would organize Christmas parties, birthdays, funerals.
“That was all gone. The local Blarney Hotel and Golf Resort also closed suddenly earlier this year, so everything disappeared almost overnight. ”
During the “long summer” she kept busy, laying flower beds and building a pagoda in the beer garden. Her son, a chef, is designing a menu for a new food business in a separate kitchen outside the pub to serve takeout.
And he has been exploring other businesses, seeking to learn from his mistakes and successes.
“Some places are operating under a military regime,” he said.
“They treat you like a daring child, they put a menu in your face and tell you not to move from the table.”
Ms O’Sullivan said that a moratorium on pub payments has helped her survive along with a restart grant from the Cork County Council and a freeze on company pay rates.
But it has still been “a difficult time”.
“Nobody has money now,” he said.
“I hired two locals, but now I can only afford to bring one. Now we can only have 50 on the bar, not 150 like before. And all the weekend parties that helped pay for our trip are gone for now.
“We had a lovely quirky pub with cool cushions and interesting decorations, but all of that had to be saved with Covid. But we still have the photos on the walls.
“And we are optimistic about the future.”
[ad_2]