The Village Pubs of Cork: ‘If not for places like this... some people wouldn’t meet anyone’

O’Donovan’s bar stands at something of an apex point in West Cork.

You reach its Fishers Cross location by heading from the Clonakilty side, in the parish of Ardfield, a few kilometres past the village, and not a million miles from Rathbarry either.

Long Strand is off to its right, Red Strand off to its left.

At the crossroads here is O’Donovan’s, a family-run pub, four generations in - five, actually, when you include a great grand uncle, an O’Sullivan, who willed it to an O’Donovan. And here it is still.

It’s Dennis O’Donovan, with his wife Marie and their two teenage sons, Mark and Cathal, who run the show today.

Both boys pull pints when needed, and 15-year-old Cathal might be the one who takes the reins for the next generation.

“He has that comradery with people. He enjoys being part of it,” Dennis smiles.

Where we chat, in a side parlour off the bar, portraits of past generations of the family hang on the wall.

Dennis’s father and grandfather were men who poured pints for the same local families generations earlier.

The pub’s story goes back to the late 19th century, when Dennis’s grandfather, born in 1890, came to Ardfield to live with his uncle, an O’Sullivan, who first ran the bar.

It was then passed to Dennis’s father 100 years ago, in 1925, and eventually came into his own hands in the mid-1990s.

“I was about 11 when I started working here,” Dennis recalls. “I’m 54 now. I probably took it over around 1995, when I was 25 or 26.”

Around the time when Dennis took over, West Cork’s pub scene looked very different. There were more public houses open across the region, and they had a steadier flow of midweek customers.

“There were older people in here every day, that’s all gone now,” he says. “Habits have changed. But, thank God, the social side of it hasn’t. People still come out to meet each other, and that’s the important part.”

Ardfield village had another bar, which shut its doors in recent years. In Clonakilty, Dennis says, the night-time drinking isn’t what it used to be, and the absence of taxis hasn’t helped.

“Before, you’d be here until 1pm and then heading into Clon’ for a band or a disco. Now there’s nothing like that. The taxi thing has destroyed it.”

Younger people, too, drink differently, he says.

“They’re not out as much during the week,” Dennis explains. “When they’re out, they’re out, but it’s different.

“Years ago, fellas might have been out two or three nights. Now, unless there’s something on, they stay home.”

Yet, Dennis believes younger people are returning.

“There was a spell of young people staying at home drinking. But it’s changing. You can see them coming back into the pubs. After covid, especially.”

O’Donovan’s has learned to adapt. Dennis understands that, these days, people want more than just a pint. “You have to give them something with the pint,” he says. “Music, food, whatever it is, a reason to come out.”

Not that this idea was new to him. Music has long played a central role in the pub, thanks to Breda Cooney, a local woman who has run a trad session every Thursday night for the last four years.

“It’s one of the best things that ever happened here,” Dennis says. “Between six and 20 musicians some nights, most local, and it brings people in from everywhere and anywhere.”

Summer weekends bring music too, while outside the front door a mobile pizza van provides customers with nibbles. “He brings his own crowd,” Dennis says, “and it all combines together. Drink, music, food, and fresh air. It seems to be working.”

During the pandemic, Dennis teamed up with a local caterer to run a takeaway pizza service from the pub’s old kitchen.

“He made them, we cooked them,” Dennis recalls. “The first three weeks, we sold thousands. We were out of business, he was out of business, so we made it work.”

While Ardfield has long attracted a summer population through the caravan park and the nearby beaches, Dennis says he sees more continental visitors too, families with camper vans who veer off the traditional tourist trail looking to experience the real West Cork.

“Before, you wouldn’t see too many foreigners here,” he says. “Now you’d see French, Dutch, not so many Germans this year but plenty of them. They’re spreading out more. Cork has a bigger element of that now.”

On entering the pub, one of the things that strikes you is the large size of the bar. What was once a small, two-room bar was expanded in 1976 by Dennis’s father. Since then, smaller additions have been made, including covered outdoor space that is often packed, even in the rain.

Ask Dennis what role O’Donovan’s plays in the community and he doesn’t hesitate. “It’s a meeting place. Like the creameries once were. Only for places like this, some people wouldn’t meet anyone.”

Dennis says covid played a role in making O’Donovan’s more of a community hub.

“After covid, when we reopened, it was unbelievable. People weren’t on their phones. They were just talking to each other. It showed how important the social side of a pub really is.

“Change happens, and it’s up to you how you want to do it. Music is easy enough to organise. Food, we’ll leave that to someone else. But you keep an eye on what works and go with it.”

What works at O’Donovan’s today is a simple formula: fair priced pints, a bit of food and regular music, with the wild Atlantic nearby,

“That combination is what keeps people coming,” Dennis says. “And as long as it works, I’m happy to leave it that way.”