The Village Pubs of Cork: 'We served 20,000 tacos in 2025...People come for them'

The name of Baltimore pub, The Algiers, relates to the infamous Sack of Baltimore in 1631, when Barbary pirates raided the West Cork village, capturing more than 100 inhabitants and taking them into slavery in North Africa.

The pub itself dates back generations, but today it is run by Bill Hillyard and his wife Anne. They took on The Algiers in early 2020, weeks before the country shut down because of the pandemic.

“My mother’s Irish and my dad’s English. I’m from California,” Bill says.

He and Anne had been living in Orange County, roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. Ireland was familiar to Bill as he had spent a lot of time here through family connections, but the decision to move here was part circumstance, part intent.

“We’d been through droughts in California. There was one day when it was snowing ash from the wildfires all around us, and my wife said, ‘We need to go someplace where it rains’.

“It was a joke, but that kind of got the wheels turning.”

They considered Denmark, Mexico, and New Zealand, but Ireland offered something practical as well as emotional.

“We knew that if we came here, we could work. I had an Irish passport. My wife does now as well.”

West Cork, Bill says, made the decision for them.

“We were visiting Ireland with my parents, knowing that we wanted to move here. We drove through Glandore on an August afternoon and it was just stunning. We said, ‘That’s West Cork’.”

Baltimore was to become home, even if they didn’t know it yet.

Bill and Anne wanted a business that would keep them lively and connected.

“We didn’t want to retire fully. We wanted to be able to get out and meet people, as well as keep busy,” Bill says.

They took on The Algiers in February, 2020. By, March, however, it was closed.

“In hindsight, I say we were blessed by a global pandemic,” admits Bill. “We had plans to do all this up on a five-year plan. We were able to do it in one go.”

Friends from California, builders, came over to help with the work.

“They came over right after we got the keys. They ended up being here for nine months,” says Bill.

Original features were preserved where possible: the stone walls, the position of the bar.

“This pub’s been here for 120 years,” Bill says. “We were really concerned about coming in as Americans, as outsiders. We didn’t want to ruin what it had always been to people. We wanted to keep the bones the same but let it grow a little.”

Baltimore’s history is strongly tied to the 1631 sack of the village by Barbary pirates.

“My guess is that the name was changed around the time of Irish independence,” Bill says of the pub name. “It was a jab at the English. This had been a plantation village, and when the pirates raided, they only took English people.”

Inside, its village pub aesthetic is retained while a North African texture weaves seamlessly through its decor. Tunisian plates, Moroccan lights, all blended with maritime West Cork.

“We just wanted to go with the Algiers vibe,” Bill says, “but mix it with the maritime culture of Baltimore.”

Many of the fittings have their own histories: a back bar salvaged and refinished from a closing pub in Dundalk; tables once used as sewing machine bases at the Eldon Hotel in Skibbereen.

“There’s a brass yardstick still on the counter from when this was a shop. We found ivory combs, old retail packaging, and loads of old coins. There was even a piece of eight,” Bill explains.

The Algiers, he says, is 60-40, a restaurant, then a pub. A kitchen was installed by a previous owner in the late 1980s, but food had dwindled in later years. Under Bill and Anne, it has become the main draw.

“We do Californian food, really, with a lot of Mexican influences.” He says.

Tacos have been the signature dish from the off.

“We served 20,000 tacos in 2025. People come for them.”

Yet its local produce that gives The Algiers its flavour.

“The trawlers are 600 metres away. The beef for the burgers comes from Walsh’s in Skibbereen, their own heritage cattle. Everything’s local,” says Bill.

Staff continuity has been crucial. Bar manager Seán McCarthy has been part of The Algiers for nearly three decades.

“As a cultural liaison as much as anything, he helped us navigate integrating ourselves into Baltimore,” says Bill. “We’d been here a month when the pandemic hit, and everyone kind of looked out for us. I joke that we had Ireland’s largest covid bubble.”

“Every week, we have Thursday Night at The Algiers,” Bill says. “A special meal. Next week it’s Thai green curry. Just to give people something different.”

Bill speaks often about the broader role of pubs.

“We’re far more than drinking. We’re a food and craic business.”

He recounts a recent night.

“We had 40 women in for Women’s Little Christmas. We ended up having karaoke. I sang karaoke for the first time in my life,” he laughs

Irish pub culture, Bill says, surprised him with some of its quirks.

“Irish people are far more particular about their pints than Americans. The glass matters. The head matters.”

He laughs about pouring a pint into the wrong glass.

The publican, especially the rural one, plays an integral role in Irish culture.

“For me, it’s an honour to be part of it,” Bill says. “There’s an Irish pub in every city in the world. You can travel the world with that experience.”