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SOME HAVE HAD stops and starts, while others remained closed since the first lockdown, but the sun was shining for publicans as they welcomed customers today for outdoor service.
“Mother nature got the memo,” joked Paul Flannery, owner of Flannery’s bar in Limerick City.
“People are buzzing, the weather is obviously a big plus and people are just happy and smiling, meeting friends they haven’t seen in a long time.”
Flannery said there have been many “emotional moments” along the way, like having to close up the bar on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, just 20 days after pubs had been allowed to reopen again.
Today’s emotions were more positive, as he returned to the pub with his father Phil, who he said is glad to be back “bossing everyone around”.
“This morning I rang my dad at 9.30 – he’s 87 – and I asked him was he ready to go back to work. He told me he was and I went to pick him up. I said to my wife that that’s when it really hit home that we’re back,” he said.
“When the first person came in and said ‘can I have a pint?’, it really lifted me to see my dad smiling and meeting customers he hadn’t met in 15 months. It’s been absolutely brilliant to get back on track”.
Flannery said Limerick publicans “got a scare” when they Covid-19 case numbers started to increase as they were worried the government might implement a local lockdown.
“We are just lucky that didn’t come to pass, but that has helped to focus people’s minds that the virus is still there and we need to make sure we don’t let it back in,” he said.
In Monaghan, Diane Wright at The Coach House and Olde Bar in Glaslough, said she has felt like she has been in Spain serving customers in the bar’s sunny garden all day.
“It has been going great, everybody is out with their sunglasses, there is such a lovely atmosphere,” she said. “We’ve been closed for so long, it’s been quite an emotional day, our oldest customer John who opened up the place 59 years ago was there to open it again today.”
Wright said she was able to re-open for two weeks in October but then the country went back into lockdown.
“It was so upsetting,” she said. “But we have friends who never got to reopen at all. I am disappointed for the other pubs in Monaghan that haven’t been able to reopen today because they don’t have outdoor space.”
She said local publicans have been supporting each other throughout the pandemic as they all struggled with the financial impact of closures.
“Our bills are still going out, our electricity, our insurance. Imagine, we’re paying insurance and public liability and us not even open. It’s been very hard,” she said.
Wright also had to invest money to make the outdoor space suitable to welcome back customers this time.
“During the lockdown we covered over our back courtyard – we call it ‘The Birdcage’ – and we put a lot of money into that but we’re putting money into our new future.”
Normal drinking at last. @theswanbar1661 @LVADublinPubs pic.twitter.com/7s4o5V1e3n
— Mulligans poolbeg st (@Mulligans6) June 7, 2021
After a tumultuous weekend in the capital, Dublin city’s bars have had steady business throughout the day and customers are just “happy to be sitting and drinking beer out of a glass again and not having to move around”, said Ronan Lynch at the Swan bar on Aungier Street.
“The last 15 months – 448 days – have been an emotional rollercoaster so it’s a big day for everyone,” he told The Journal.
“And today has been emotional, we’ve had all these boards up to protect the building and today we took them down. This feels like a new start now for the industry.”
He said publicans have learned to expect “curveballs” but they are hoping their doors stay open now.
“With the vaccine levels it’s promising, it feels like we’re getting that bit closer to getting back to normality. There’s always that bit of apprehension but we’re just glad to get back in.”
Over on South William Street, customers have been queuing up to get a seat outside Grogans bar, which has been closed since the first lockdown.
We are BACK🤩🤩🤩 pic.twitter.com/72KGqLGJqb
— Grogans Castle Lounge (@GrogansPub) June 7, 2021
“It’s a perfect day for it, there is a lovely atmosphere around town and people are just delighted,” said publican Daniel Smith.
“We opened at 10.30am and we were full by twenty to 11, so it’s been great, especially seeing our regulars.”
Smith said today feels like “a real turning point” for the industry.
“We were closed for so long, it feels like a day of hope and victory. This isn’t over by any stretch, but we are on the right track.”
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People need training on these platforms. Anyone wishing to attend a zoom school session should be left in the lobby until invited by the presenter. Provide BASIC training and this won’t happen.
@Hugh O’Keeffe: 100% this is such a trivial thing to resolve it raises serious questions about the training and advice being provided to the less tech savvy teachers.
@Hugh O’Keeffe: I’m guessing (and as per the article) that most break ins is because of someone making public the link complete with password……or as horrifying as it sounds, could it be a relative of one of the children.
My faith in humanity is being eroded bit by bit every day. What motivates these sickos?
I’m not familiar with zoom or meet but these platforms need to have ability to kick and ban unwanted attendees at a minimum.
As for all lockdowns so far, no fear of this as our school hasn’t bothered with a single online class for any of my children
@Tony Gordon: Have you considered ringing the principal about this? If not,then you should. I am teaching all my classes everyday online via zoom. Students need it.
@Tony Gordon: very,very surprised to hear this. In my area,all schools are online. Maybe contact the principal about this?
Go back to class rooms. Problem solved
@nero: You’re a genius. Why has nobody else thought of that? Hmmm
I’m not familiar with zoom or meet but these platforms need to have ability to kick and ban unwanted attendees at a minimum.
@Paul Clarke: Zoom does have that ability. Why bother comment on a subject that you don’t have a clue about? Never ceased to amaze me how people think we want to hear every little thought that comes their head.
@In fairness now…: …and the award for most obnoxious comment of the year so far goes to the faceless troll in row two!
@In fairness now…: why did you bother saying something so rude?
@In fairness now…: Thanks, you have just proved my point.
@Caddyshack: Forgive me for reading a news article and expecting some intelligent debate. Instead, most of the posts any thoughts that come into people’s head.
I personally don’t need to know every single thought a person might have. We already have Facebook for that This is supposed to be a news outlet.
I seem to have upset those people who think differently.
@In fairness now…: You chose to denegrate rather than educate. There’s no defense for that level of repugnance.
@In fairness now…: why don’t the teachers use this then, you ‘tard?
@In fairness now…: You didn’t upset me. The article doesn’t go into detail but there are only two conclusions you could reasonably draw – the software isn’t fit for purpose and doesn’t allow enough control OR teachers don’t know how to use it.
And if it’s the second one (which it now obviously is) then it’s either down to lack of training or the incompetence of some teachers, or a bit of both.
Teachers very poorly trained on IT and online platforms here! No training whatsoever carried out
Sounds like the system here is rubbish or the teachers don’t know how to use it.
@Jim Lingk: The teachers don’t know how to use it. Zoom has a waiting room so they can vet who gets in, and meetings can be password protected so people can’t simply check random meeting IDs.
@Derek Walsh: I would have assumed as much, any of these types of services I’ve used (WebEx mostly) have that functionality. And they are reasonably intuitive to use.
Does that mean there is a possibility they’re being watched without realising, before being bombed?
@Peter: Yes.
have your say