40 years trading — my time is up

FOR Finín O’Sullivan, a typical working day at his bar and restaurant begins bright and early — at 5am.

What is he at so early in the morning at the landmark business, simply named Finín’s, at 75, Main Street, Midleton?

“Putting the tea-towels on to boil,” he says, laughing.

“Honestly! Then I go for my swim before coming in to help the chef get ready for the mid-morning trade.”

The restaurant opened 40 years ago and now, at the age of 67, the owner is selling up the business named after him as a going concern.

“I don’t want to start the process of retiring when I’m 70,” explains Fínin. “Time is up. I don’t want to wait until I get a heart attack or a stroke.

“If I don’t think about selling up now, I could be 73 before I actually retire.

“I’m hoping to retire over the next couple of years. The rules and regulations associated now with this business are quite strict. Staffing has become much more challenging as well.”

Fínin, who is a familiar and popular figure in Midleton, favouring a bicycle as his mode of transport, saw his business survive two recessions and the fall-out from the Celtic Tiger, as well as trading well in the good times.

The West Cork native remembers those early days of the business well. He and wife Patricia lived upstairs at the premises for six years before they got their own place.

“We had two small babies, and Patricia and I worked all hours, just ourselves in our small kitchen, when we started off doing bar food in the early years. It was chaotic!” Finín recalls.

“We offered soup and sandwiches on the menu and we were the first bar to offer a hot plate or a salad plate. Back then, the bookies were right next door and the bar trade was very busy. It was like bringing a city pub to Midleton. It was a novelty.”

The business is up for sale at €550,000 and Finín says there is a lot of interest.

What about the unique art collection that adorn the walls of the bar and the restaurant; the Knuttels, paintings by Elizabeth Cope, Tom Walsh and Peter Collins?

“The art is worth the same as the premises,” says Finín. “Patricia has a great eye for paintings. I’ll probably hold a sale or an auction afterwards.

“As you move on in life, you don’t want the Victorian card table or the plush new sofa. You come to that stage.”

Fínin was born and reared in Schull in West Cork. It was where he met his wife, Patricia Coulis, a physiotherapist and where he honed his trade.

”I worked in a local hotel after school and in the summer holidays,” says Finín. “I got my chef’s degree from Rockwell College and then went to Germany for two years in 1969.

“I worked all over Cork, the Oyster and in the Metropole Hotel, and then the Grand Hotel in Crosshaven. And it was Grand! It was the first hotel to have a swimming pool.”

Fínin progressed to lease premises of his own in Blackrock, having done a stint in O’Keeffe’s in Schull.

“Patricia came to work in Schull for the summer, we got together and we got married. Our children are Kate, Clare, Gregg and Olann. We have two grandchildren, Hannah and Eliza.”

Fínin and Patricia worked well together.

“In Blackrock, there was hardly ever a table free,” says Fínin. “It was the mid-seventies and there was no other place like it, except the Arbutus and Lovetts.

“Patricia and I looked for a place to buy. 75, Main Street, Midleton was it. The opening date was Monday, May 1, 1978.”

It was hard graft getting the business up and running, but the couple started as they meant to go on, committed to making a go of things and establishing Finíns as a top class bar and restaurant with the best of basic staples; good coffee, home-made soup and home-made brown soda bread.

“Patricia did the bar and I did the cooking,” says Fínin. “The recipes for the vegetable soup and the brown bread never changed. When the cook isn’t in, I make the brown bread myself.”

The couple believed in good, locally sourced, wholesome food, without the frills.

“It has worked for us for 40 years,” says Finín. “I stick to quality raw ingredients.”

An upstairs dining area opened in December, 1979. Business was brisk. “Often, we turned around a table on a Saturday night six times in four hours,” says Finín. “Steak, fish, chicken, duck, Irish stew and shepherd’s pie, a good beef curry, good portions and piping hot. That’s what people want. I do what people want. I never minded competition. I minded my own business and I always did my own thing.”

What did he like best about the trade?

“Meeting people. That’s the usual answer, Isn’t it?” he laughs

But he likes his own company.

“I do. I like being on my own. I have to say though; I’ve made some very good friends here over the years.”

Famous faces were among his patrons.

“When Divine Rapture was being filmed in Ballycotton, Johnny Deep, Marlon Brando and Debra Winger all dined here. Angela Lansbury is a regular.”

What would he say to other would-be entrepreneurs hoping to start their own business?

“Think twice! Be prepared to work around the clock.”

Finín recalls the economic down-turns. “Yes. I had to cut down the hours of the part-timers and do more work myself. It was fine because I love what I do.”

Has he any regrets about throwing in the towel?

“None,” he says. “I’ve had a great innings. We didn’t have a grand lifestyle, but we had a good one always. We enjoyed our breaks abroad and our dinners out.

“I’d work six weeks straight for seven days, then take a week off. The kids all had jobs here at one time or another. Now they have their own careers to pursue.”

What is his favourite dish?

“Irish stew,” he says. “I could live on it for the rest of my life!”

Fínín has no grand plans for the rest of his life. But he won’t be slaving over a hot stove cooking Irish stew when he retires. Nor will he be boiling tea-towels, hanging them out to dry before dawn.

And he won’t be going far.

“I plan to do nothing,” he says.

What? No bucket list?

“I am looking forward to being at home just doing nothing.”