You'll find Irish newspapers EVEN IN THE LOOS

You'll find Irish newspapers EVEN IN THE LOOS
April 14, 2007 Print Ready Email Article

FIRST, as a form of greeting, a fellow pub-goer insults you. Then someone cracks an inside joke and thumps your back. Bear hugs and pumping handshakes all around.

'Strongbow for the man, please!', yells the bar manager, almost reading your choice of drink as music from The Corrs blares in the background.

That's the sense of identity and belonging that regular pubgoers at Irish pubs here enjoy.

And scenes like these are played over and over again - especially during Happy Hour - at pubs like Circular Road's Molly Malone's, its sister outlet Father Flanagan's at Chijmes, Muddy Murphy's at Orchard Hotel Shopping Arcade, Scruffy Murphy's at East Coast Park and Shamus O'Donnell's at Tras Street.

At these Irish watering holes, regulars are really like family and when Father Flanagan's closes next Saturday, some of its patrons say they would feel like they've lost their second home.

McCraic Holdings, the owners of 10-year-old Father Flanagan's, decided not to renew their lease at Chijmes 'as we were unable to reach a mutually acceptable rental with the landlord,' said Mr Colin MacDonald, its managing director.

The group will be focusing on 'growth areas' by expanding the food offerings of its other outlets, Molly Malone's, BQ Bar and Dharma's Kebabs, as well as concentrating more on staff training and certification.

Father Flanagan's regulars like Mr Steven Lee, 59, a real estate agent who has been patronising the pub since 1999, say they will miss the close-knit feel of the place.

TRADITIONAL TOUCHES

Mr Lee says it was the pub's welcoming atmosphere that attracted him to it and he liked that the staff treat him like 'family'.

'They know my favourite drinks, which is Kilkenny beer and Guinness, and they know my favourite seat at the bar,' he said.

But surely, one can get good service at local pubs too?

What makes these Irish pubs special, and their experiences authentically Irish?

For one, some of the pubs here can boast of literally having their roots in Ireland.

After all, the physical parts of these pubs, such as the furniture and decorations were actually designed, built and sourced in Ireland.

Muddy Murphy's (fondly known as Muddy's to its regulars), was built to scale in Dublin, Ireland, and shipped to Singapore in six 12m-long containers in 1996. Then, it was installed by 16 Irish pub fitters.

Said Mr Billy McDonald, the group operations manager of Muddy's owner, Gaelic Inns: 'The essential ingredients that set Irish pubs apart from others is their authentic design - they are built in Ireland with Irish materials and they feature traditional Irish products, food and music.'

Since its launch, Muddy's has hosted the first Guinness Singapore International Oyster Shucking Championship in 1997 and is still hosting it annually. In 2001, it was Asia's largest retail pub consumer of Kilkenny Irish Ale and in 2002, Guinness Draught, said Mr McDonald.

Come June, the Gaelic Inns group will be opening their third Irish pub, Durty Nelly's, at Marina Square.

Like them, the 'built in Ireland' feature is one that McCraic Holdings also took seriously.

Both Molly Malone's and Father Flanagan's were designed and built in Ireland and fitted in Singapore by Irish workers. Even down to the toilets.

Said Molly Malone's general manager Roland Nicolich: 'Of course, one can open a pub, make it look Irish with Irish memorabilia and serve Guinness. But it's not the real thing. You also need to incorporate what I call the 'touchy-feely' stuff.'

For him, that include making the Irish Times available in the toilets (the pub's staff print pages from the newspaper's website every day), importing stone tiles used in one of the pub's rooms from Ireland and having the pub's radio tuned to Today FM, an Irish radio station.

Outside, the pub has also changed the conventional road signs to ones which have the Gaelic equivalent of the two roads flanking it - Circular Road and North Canal Road.

ANTIQUE SPIRIT

Over at Father Flanagan's, Irish antiques and Celtic symbols also adorn the outlet. On its walls, scenes from the 'Book of Kells', a production of the Celtic monks of Ireland around 800 AD, were painstakingly created over three weeks in 1996 by a group of Irish painters who came together with the pub's assembly team.

Said a 26-year-old patron at Molly Malone's, who wanted to be known only as Nesh: 'For me, the lighting has got to be dimmed just right, there has to be wood around, the music has got to be folksy and of course, the place has to serve a proper Guinness and have paraphernalia like the Guinness wooden keg.'

Yet, not all Irish pubs here are so directly linked to their Irish roots. And their owners say it doesn't make them any less Irish in origin.

FEELS LIKE HOME

Mr Pat Grennan, the owner of Shamus O'Donnell's, pointed out that the people behind the bar and the service they provide matter as well.

He said: 'My bar was designed and built locally in Singapore. That doesn't mean it's not authentic. The wood used in the bar and for my furniture can come from Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I'm Irish and I designed the place and I run the place.'

He added: 'I'm a small operator, I built my pub for about $200,000 in 2001. To have a 'theme bar' made in Ireland, you need to have a lot of money.

'I feel that in most authentic Irish bar, the proprietor is very involved in the business and in many cases, will be behind the bar, serving drinks and engaging with the customers.

'In Ireland, pubs are central to the community.'

Customers like Mr Ben Arnott, a 36-year-old working in the finance sector who frequents Muddy's at least twice a week, couldn't agree more. He said: 'I feel instantly at home at Muddy's. Any time that I walk in to the pub, I know I'm going to see a familiar face.'