Recalling famous customers as pub celebrates 160 years

AN historic pub which included Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan among its more famous customers celebrates one hundred and sixty years in business this weekend.
The Beehive Bar on Ardara’s Main Street, established in 1858, has been a hub for top quality traditional music in the Heritage town ever since Pat McGill returned home from America in 1993 to take over.
Over the past fifteen years many of the country’s leading musicians have entertained visitors and locals alike with their music and Pat has another top quality line-up of musicians in store for the birthday celebrations this coming weekend.
“I mightn’t make any money out of these concerts but when you have people of this calibre coming to Ardara it can only help raise the profile of both the bar and the town,” he said.
Indeed, in keeping with his theme of bringing the very best musicians to town, The Special Consensus – whose latest album Rivers And Roads is nominated for the Best Bluegrass Album Grammy – come to the Beehive on January 24.
“They’re playing An Grianan (Letterkenny) on the Friday night and I went looking to see if they were free on the Thursday.
“I can’t offer them too much money but they’re a superb bluegrass outfit and I couldn’t resist,” he laughed.
A leading figure in both the annual Bluegrass and Johnny Doherty festivals in Ardara, Pat is enjoying life back home although he’s still not sure how he ended up owning a pub.
“I lived in New York for about twenty years and this was my local whenever I would be home on holiday.
“I used to pick up the Irish papers in the States and noticed one week that the Beehive was for sale.
“My brother Peter was at home at the time and I asked him to go in and put in a bid for the place for the craic. The next thing I got a call to say that it looks like we’re about to own a pub as we were the highest bidders and here I am,” he explained.
Established in 1858, the Beehive used to sell knitted jumper and ladies wear alongside beer and spirits.
“The original owner was Hugh Gildea and we bought it off his son Patrick. I came across a lot of old sign in visitor books – some dating back more than fifty years – as well as ledgers more than a hundred years old,” he said.
Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who lived in a cottage in Glencolmcille almost one hundred years ago, and Brendan Behan used to frequent the Beehive while well known actresses Julie Christie, star of Doctor Zhivago, and Joanna Lumley, who won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, are among the more famous more recent visitors.
“You never know who might pop their head in the door. Ardara is just one of those places,” he said.
Pat has cleverly adapted an area to the rear of the pub to cater for live music.
“The back yard was all overgrown but when we cleared it all away we came across old flag-stones which we cleaned up. We also left the old stone walls in place and the end result is quite nice,” he said.
Open only on weekend nights throughout the winter, the Friday Session continues year round while traditional music can be heard coming from the bar most nights during the summer months.
“It’s a labour of love. It’s the type of music that I really enjoy and like so it’s a win win situation,” he smiled.
While it no longer sells clothes, the Beehive today offers spirits, in all manner of exotic flavours, and beers from across the globe behind the bar counter of a premises that has managed to keep its heritage.
Oh. And then there is the music…
Tonight, Friday, the famous Friday Session takes place in the bar where Jim and Fiona, Donna Harkin, The Campbells and Dermot Byrne are just a few of the regular contributors.
Tomorrow night the brilliant Tanya McCole – who recently played support to John Prine during his European Tour – takes centre stage with Tim Edey, the award winning English multi-instrumentalist and composer, the main performer on Sunday night.
Now living in Ardara, Tim was 2012 Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards while he was nominated again for the same award in February.

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