The Pubs of Cork: Maureen grew up in a pub, now she is running her own

I visited The Strand Bar in Vicarstown at an apt time - just before Halloween.

That’s because the pub is right beside the famous ‘moving graveyard’ of Matehy, near Blarney. Local folklore claims the dead migrated there overnight from a nearby graveyard to reject an unwanted burial.

Whenever there’s a particularly lively party on at The Strand Bar, owner Maureen O’Sullivan never gets any complaints from those ‘residents’. “The neighbours are dead quiet!” she says.

Maureen opened the pub in 2015 after it was closed for five-and-a-half years, and she wanted to put her own colourful stamp on it.

“I gave the bar a new lease of life,” she says.

She certainly succeeded, and it was named Best Local Pub in the Irish Pub Awards regional section, and will represent Cork in the national awards on November 18 in Dublin.

For Maureen, being a third generation of publicans, it was a chance to combine two of her passions. “I worked in the fashion industry for years,” she says.

The family pub, Cremins, is still open in Aghabullogue about 12km away.

“My mother sold everything under the sun in the pub,” says Maureen. “Growing up in a pub prepares you for the world.”

She was well schooled, and her own pub is nestled in the quiet crossroads at Matehy close to Blarney.

“I knew buying the pub was a no-brainer for me,” says Maureen, who favours a ‘vintagey’ look in her bar. “The community needed a focal point.”

There are many focal points and talking points attached to The Strand Bar, and in the quirky ‘Alice in Wonderland’ setting of the beer garden, where a wandering passionflower drapes over the wooden beams.

“My fashion career in merchandising and window-dressing really served me well when it came to creating a really personal individual look for the bar, and giving the bar a real sense of authenticity”, says Maureen, who loves her style.

“I revamped the whole interior, embracing recycling,” adds Maureen, who ran a vintage shop for a year.

“I think with the vintage look and with the quirky, upcycled colourful furniture in the bar, as well as the long bar counter and colourful bar stools, people feel at home here and they can imagine they are somewhere different.”

“And you can come into the VIP area,” she quips, as she brews fresh coffee in the machine behind the counter.

What is the VIP area about?

“It’s about a bit of fun,” says Maureen. “And it is a really popular place for special occasions to be celebrated. Parties here happen often and everyone gets into the party mood.”

The gals dress up.

“Our weekend girls on a night out are very glamourous,” says Maureen. “They all get dressed up like they are going out on the town! It’s a real feelgood feeling.

“They have a great time here,” Maureen adds. “They sit at the 10-seater blue long table that I got in a restaurant in Cork, and they chat and laugh all night while enjoying a few drinks.

“I must say all the locals are great to support the bar. It is a populated area, and it takes in a wide circle, Blarney, Tower, Inniscarra, all are welcome here. Word of mouth is great to attract customers. Tourists love it.”

Why does Maureen love it?

“I love being my own boss,” she replies. “Being a publican is a very social life.

“I call the shots and I can manage the bar any way I want. I take time out when I close up Tuesday and Wednesday. I usually go to Cash & Carry then.”

Maureen’s son Brendan is a chef, and has proved to be a great asset to The Strand Bar.

“Brendan creates tasty menus in the kitchen. The pub trade has changed so much over the years. Now you must offer food in order to be a viable business.

“Brendan’s culinary skills have made a great difference to the pub. Business is good.”

The Friday Club favour sitting at the bar counter.

“The men like their own positions in the bar and they like their own space,” says Maureen.

Is it a private club?

“I do know the lads like to talk among themselves for a bit before others join them at the bar counter,” says Maureen. “They are part of the furniture. The golfers are regulars too. We have our own Golf Society.

“It’s all very friendly. Customers coming in are always included in group conversations and discussions. It all happens at the bar counter.

“Sometimes, after a few pints the men get hot chicken wings to take home. That’s a treat.”

According to local folklore, the graveyard next door received an unexpected inclusion of new burial sites overnight in the most macabre of circumstances.

Maureen alights onto one of the bar stools at the bar counter and beckons me to sit alongside her.

Pray tell Maureen.

“The events in question purport to have taken place in the early 1700s when the Penal Laws were in full force,” she says. “At this time, the Protestant ascendancy passed a number of severe laws in an attempt to expatriate the Catholic/Irish population, crushing them in respect of education, land ownership and all aspects of normal civic life.

“The regulations on their religious worship were especially harsh,” relates Maureen.

“Masses were held in secret and one Sunday morning a brave priest celebrated mass in a field below the mass rock at Ballyshoneen. Unknown to the small congregation, a small band of soldiers, led by the notorious priest-hunter, Captain Fox, had made the journey from the city on horseback.

“When Captain Fox heard the whispering of prayers in the distance, he made his way up behind the priest. Fox beheaded the priest with his sword and the congregation fled for their lives across the hills. The soldiers departed, and the hooves of their horses threw up great clods of earth as they headed for Vicarstown.

“Fox’s horse shied and threw his rider to the ground. The dead captain was now a liability. The soldiers rode hastily across the fields in Loughane and they buried their captain in a shallow grave among other graves and quickly retreated.”

Maureen continues the spooky story.

“At the stroke of midnight, the burial ground began to quiver and quake. The dead themselves awoke. They could not rest alongside a murderer.

“They took their headstones upon their backs and slithered their way across the field to the Shournagh and up the hill to Matehy cemetery. Some headstones were lost en route and a number of them can still be seen in the riverbed.

“Upon sunrise, all the occupants of Loughane graveyard had re-interred themselves to Matehy.”

So the souls never rested in peace? Hence they keep moving?

“So legend has it,” says Maureen, who is a born storyteller.

With chills up the spine, it is timely to move closer to the cosy stove.

Maureen returns to her favourite subject.

“We get a lovely mix of people in here. Everyone enjoys the cráic, and in the fine weather, the beer garden is packed. I love the frills and the flounces out there.”

Maureen intends to keep packing them in.

“There is space to expand the business to Airbnb,” she says. “My mother kept lodgers, cooked them breakfast, lunch and dinner and she ran the bar as well.

“I think I take my inspiration from her. I find out what works and just go for it.”

Maureen has ‘gone for it’ in her own unique way and is loving doing business beside the moving graveyard.

“I really love the business,” she says.

If anything changes anytime soon, she could always change career once again. And be an enchanting storyteller!