The Village Pubs of Cork: Jack’s father owned a bar... and Breda’s mother ran one too

Opened almost a century ago by Timothy Patrick Cotter, and named ever since in his honour, TP Cotter’s in Macroom is a pub steeped in history.

Still bearing the family name at 14, Main Street, the town’s heritage fills the bar and its surroundings, as current owner Jack Cotter explains.

“The life-size image of the legendary blues and rock guitarist, Rory Gallagher, outside in the beer garden, was the original image used by Ireland’s first major open-air festival in 1977, the Mountain Dew Festival, to advertise the event,” says Jack.

“Rory is in a fitting place out here in the garden among the flowers where everyone can admire him and reminisce about him.”

Jack and and his wife Breda’s bank of memorabilia includes an original framed ticket costing two pounds fifty pence to access the event almost 50 years ago.

“The festival created a fantastic atmosphere,” says Jack. “My dad used to be at the castle gate taking tickets. I remember Paul Brady talked to him at the gate.”

They were good old days.

“The Mountain Dew Festival was a huge event, drawing crowds of music fans from around the country,” says Jack, who has been working in the bar for 53 years, since he was 17.

It was held annually from 1976 to 1982 in the grounds of Macroom Castle.

I am curious about another framed tribute to a great man inside the bar - Timothy Patrick Cotter, who left family behind in Inchigeela to seek his fortune in the US.

‘Timothy Patrick travelled in the hope that one day he would return to Ireland and set up his own business,’ states the tribute.

He must have made his fortune across the Atlantic because Timothy Patrick bought not one pub, but three, one for each of two of his daughters.

Timothy Patrick had four daughters and one son.

Where were those two pubs located that TP bought for his daughters?

“His daughters’ pubs were both in the city,” says Jack, the grandson of TP, who took over TP Cotter’s in Macroom when his dad died in 1988.

“The Mountain Bar in Evergreen Street, and Cotter’s in Barrack Street, now known as Mr Bradley’s,” adds Jack, who like his grandfather is very much at home in his own pub on Macroom’s main street.

What was TP’s profession in the US?

“We don’t know a whole lot about him,” says Jack. “We think he was a chef.”

Jack knows that his grandfather bought the Macroom pub, a fixture on Main Street since 1902, at an auction when he returned from America.

“The auction was held at the Town Hall in the square, and by all accounts TP upped the bidding,” says Jack who has sons, David, and John, and a daughter, Maeve, with wife Breda.

Jack may not have sought his fortune across the Atlantic Ocean, but fortune smiled upon him when he met Breda. The couple married in 1989.

“Breda’s mother, Sheila Lynch, owned the Castle Bar in Macroom,” says Jack.

“I knew the score being the daughter of a publican,” says Breda. “I was well used to the trade which helped.”

Did Jack chat Breda up at her homestead?

“No. She chatted me up!” says Jack.“We were part of the same crowd.”

Fortune favours the brave, and the young couple took over TP Cotter’s when Jeremiah Cotter passed away, and never looked back.

“We love trading in the town,” says Jack. “The people are wonderful. Day-trippers passing through Macroom return again and again.

“Our customers are very loyal. Our staff are very loyal, the majority of them working here with us more than 20 years. Our chef, Paula from Kilnamartyra, is here 25 years.”

Old friends are missed.

“We lost one of our dear friends, one of our beloved customers, a member of staff, and our neighbour, Lorraine, recently,” says Breda.

“Lorraine was only 56 and she is sadly missed. She could keep the whole place going.”

Is Jack, a native of Macroom, proof of the old adage of ‘the town that never raised a fool’? He must be a good businessman, like his grandfather and father before him.

“I don’t know about that!” says Jack laughing. “I took a chance on it.”

Like Breda, Jack was au fait with the pub business.

“I went to school here in Macroom,” says Jack. “I always helped out in the pub. After doing my Leaving Cert I had the option of staying here.”

The rest is history.

“We also own next door, which was once the telephone exchange,” says Jack.

“We did up the bar in 1990, the year of Italia ’90.”

Billy Casey was the local builder.

“I’m coming in to start the job, whether Ireland are winning or losing,” Billy told Jack.

“The place used be mobbed during the World Cup,” said Jack.

“The garden section was a shebeen back then and that was mobbed too.”

Ireland’s fortunes changed when Billy arrived at TP Cotter’s to begin renovations.

“That night they were beaten by Italy!” says Jack. “We have great memories of Italia ’90.”

Jack and Breda reared their family up over the premises before they bought a private house in the town 20 years ago.

“We reared them here and we educated them here,” says Breda. “We made a good living.

“We loved the company of our friends over the years who came into the pub,” adds Breda.

“We do a good trade with live music, and we show all the live GAA matches and soccer matches on TV. The weekends here are jointed,” says Breda.

“Opening at 10am for breakfast, we welcome the first customers of the day. We serve lunch and dinner as well.

“Our customers are a mix of young and old, and they all mix away together.”

Some customers can’t be replaced.

“That is true,” says Jack. “I still expect to see Billy sitting at his usual spot at the end of the bar. We lost him last year.

“There is no replacing the characters who used to bring their own ‘something’ to the place.”

The smoking ban in 2004 was a fortunate move by the Government of the day.

“It was a great move,” says Jack. “The shebeen outside was a blessing in disguise when the smoking ban came in. People could congregate out there for a smoke. The shebeen has progressed over the years.”

Christmas dinner was served at TP Cotter’s over the years.

“We had our ‘own’ Christmas for the customers,” says Jack. “We served Christmas dinner. The banter and the cráic was always in full swing.”

The postman’s ball was always in full swing too.

“We held the ball next door every year with a DJ,” says Jack.

One postman attending the ball got a surprise when he collected his bike the next morning.

“His bike had been painted white!” recalls Jack. “He was still a bit tipsy, and he wasn’t sure quite what colour his bike was!”

Covid brought its own challenges.

“I remember we had two tables set up outside where four at a table could sit,” says Breda. “We offered food, all home-made, for under €9, something not so big but tasty.”

The loyal customers had their own ideas.

“I remember going out with a tape measure, making sure the distancing regulations were in place,” says Breda. “Every time I came out, the two tables were pushed together! We asked what could we do to keep people apart?”

The only time Jack and Breda were apart was when Jack had heart surgery during Covid.

“It was a worrying time,” says Breda. “Jack was in CUH for three months.”

The customers rowed in when he returned to 14, Main Street.

“The customers brought me out on day trips,” says Jack. “I made a whole new crew of friends and now I go to matches with them every Thursday.”

Paula arrives out in the sunny sun trap in the beer garden with coffee, fresh scones, cream and jam.

“I make the scones and the apple tarts every day,” says Breda. “I like baking. I never freeze anything. It must always be fresh.”

Jack is off to bring a cash register and cash float to the castle grounds for an outdoor event happening in the town.

“Please call again when you are passing,” he says.

Ah Jack. I’m no fool either!