Landmark kingscourt pub gets new lease of life

Damian McCarney

The purchase of a landmark Kingscourt bar by a local couple promises to safeguard the listed building’s future. Gartlan’s thatched roof, whitewashed walls and authentic decor make it recognisable far beyond the county boundaries. However, since its closure in 2013, its decline has been rapid.
Now local couple, Padraig and Sheila Smith, have announced they have completed the sale of Gartlan’s bar and hope to carry out the restoration work and refurbishment and are “hopeful” to have it reopened some time in 2015.
“We’re delighted that it’s finally done and sorted that we can actually say that it is ours,” enthused Sheila, “because it has been a long road.”
Gartlan’s Bar owes its origins to the late George Gartlan who reportedly acquired the lease on this 17th century thatched cottage in 1911. Over the century-plus that followed, the building established itself as the quintessential Irish bar.
Visitors could seemingly step back in time, simply by crossing Gartlan’s humble threshold, where they would find a grocery store in keeping with its turn of the 20th century vibe. No visit to the Kingscourt area was complete without a pause at Gartlan’s. In recent years it featured in Turtle Bunbury’s best selling book ‘The Irish Pub’, and even featured prominently in a documentary film by the same name. However, with its closure in 2013 the community feared that the bar had called last orders for good back. The passing months saw the famous thatch roof invaded by weeds, and the sheer white facade, became dispiritingly tired and stained.
With Padraig’s origins on the Lough an Leagh mountain, and Sheila’s in Balloughly, the Smiths are well aware of Gartlan’s significance to Kingscourt.

“It is an iconic building really. It is Kingscourt really in a lot of ways. Wherever you go, not just in Ireland, but overseas, you will often see pictures of Gartlan’s thatched pub. There’s not many buildings left with the thatch, and that’s our interest in it - the heritage. 

“The pub has been closed for a few years, so at the moment it is just a building,” says Sheila. “For us the aim is to get the building restored and repaired and get it back to its former glory and rightful place of historic and heritage importance to the town of Kingcourt.”
The Smiths currently run the B&B Hollow Stream on the Dublin Road on the outskirts of Kingscourt.
Gartlan’s is a protected structure under the current Cavan County Development Plan 2014-2020 and emergency work is required for its maintenance. The Smiths are working with the local authority to undertake the work, which is supervised by local conservation architect, Niall Smith. Restoring the iconic thatch roof is priority number one. Somewhere slightly further down the ‘to-do list’ is to bring music back to the pub.
“We would hope to get both local musicians and ones from further afield to get them back in there because it was renowned for its traditional sessions,” said trad fan Sheila.
The Smiths welcome any assistance from local residents who can help restore Gartlans to its former glory. Contact them at hollowstream@gmail.com or 087 1016 173.