Brigadoon Bar
This story, of the Brigadoon Bar, is nothing to do with contracting. However, I thought it may be of interest to our readers.
Note:- Brigadoon is a Scottish village that comes alive for one day only every 100 years, as portrayed in a movie of the same name.
Legendary Status
Its reputation was legendary. They had shut it 3 years before. But it opened, out of the blue for just one night only – and I was there.
My father had told me about this bar in the small town in Ireland where he was born. I‘m now living there after stints in the USA and London.
The pubs name was Winnie‘s after the owner Winnie Divers. It was in the family a long time.
The thing about this bar is that it so tiny. There are no seats at all. There are only 2 bar stools.
Winnie wasn‘t keen on there being too many people in the bar, and once it got to about 4 or 5 she would suggest to newcomers that they might like to go elsewhere. I suppose it might be able to hold 6 or 7 people, but after that it wouldn‘t be comfortable for those there.
Great Wine
The other great thing about the bar was the astonishing wine collection that she had accumulated over the years. Although there were two beer pumps, this was a bar that specialised in fine wines and whiskies.
My father said that he had some of the best nights ever in town there.
It‘s one thing I like about living in Ireland now, as opposed to living in London, is that, as well as the late hours, they don‘t mind a bit of singing and carousing. In most London bars, people can enjoy themselves as long as they don‘t make any noise. Singing is pretty much taboo in most of them.
However, in any Irish bar it is actually encouraged and the owner or bar manager may well take part.
End of an Era
Sadly, however, Winnie‘s mind started deteriorating and he family closed the bar down. She gifted a very nice bottle of fine wine to my father before she closed it.
She is now in a home somewhere where her mind deteriorates further.
Ever since I came to the town less than two years ago, people have told me about this legendary bar. I had been here on holiday before but had never been in there.
The Chance
I was actually in another bar a week ago on Monday night at 11:20 when a friend of mine came in and asked me if I would like to go elsewhere.
‘Where do you suggest?’, I asked.
‘How about Winnie‘s’ he replied.
I thought that Seamus had finally taken leave of his senses, or he had just made some sort of mistake.
‘They closed it 3 years ago’ I said.
‘Well, it‘s open tonight’ he responded.
That was good enough for me and, as it was just round the corner, we were there in less than a minute.
One Off
It seems that Winnie‘s niece, Geraldine (Winnie never married), was here for a couple of week‘s holiday, and had decided to open it as a one-off.
When I got there I saw a friend of hers, Yvonne McDaid, who had contacted Seamus Canavan, who contacted me.
Also there was an American, who now lived here and who fished from the area, Kevin O‘Leary, and Geraldine‘s boyfriend was there too. That pretty much filled up the bar.
Geraldine was behind the bar, and asked me what I wanted to drink. She handed me an old Irish half-crown and said that I should use that to pay for any drinks.
I had a glass of a really very nice red wine, which must have come form Winnie‘s collection. Once the wine ran out we went on to the whisky that was still there from when the pub was open.
Late Night at Brigadoon Bar
I don‘t know where the time went, but when I left there it was light and people were going to work. There were still three people in there when I left, so God knows what time that they went home at.
Some of you may have noticed that a week ago on Tuesday that no articles went onto ITContractor at around 9pm and at lunchtime, when they are supposed to.
That was because I didn‘t wake up till 3:15 in the afternoon. My wife and two children are away in America at the moment, otherwise questions might have been asked. I‘m pretty safe as my wife has no interest in anything to do with computers and never reads ITContractor.
I couldn‘t wait to tell my father that his favourite bar had opened up for one more time. I thought it was better to wait till I sobered up a bit (about a week) before I told him.
No Plans for Brigadoon Bar
It seems that Geraldine has no plans to open it again, and so it looks as if it is a one-off. The licence has long gone as it was sold to one of those new type of high ceiling, ‘converted from a bank‘ pubs.
So, it looks like I got my first and only chance to sample the delights of the bar that reappeared like Brigadoon for one night only.
Boasting to the Locals
Since then I‘ve started quite a few conversations with the townsfolk here asking ‘You‘ll never guess which pub I was in the other night’?
There are 13 pubs in the town, and after first guessing which ones I was most likely to be in, they would go through the remaining ones, one by one, before getting stumped.
‘Winnie‘s’ I would reply.
It was great watching their surprise, not to say shock, mixed in with more than a little jealousy.
What a night!
I feel privileged to have been in Moville’s Brigadoon Bar one last time.
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