Farewell to Glán Bar
Popular couple purchase Mullahoran pub
It was with a heavy heart that Collette McGahern, who ran the popular Glán Bar for 20 years, signed on the dotted line relinquishing ownership of the hostelry. With one child in college and another finishing her Leaving Cert, Collette felt it was an opportune time to change direction: “The decision was not anything to do with Covid, but it didn't help,” she told the Celt. “I suppose I was a long time behind the bar and I just had enough, not of the customers, but the demands of the life.”
Prior to the pandemic, Collette had moved away and leased the bar, which was trading successfully, but maintained her links with the parish. She stressed that she really enjoyed her time behind the bar, the friends and camaraderie that were part and parcel of her day for the last two decades: “The business has changed over the years. I suppose I moved on. I was working in another job during the day and I found it difficult to marry the two.”
Collette came to national attention in 2012 when she appeared on ‘Come Dine With Me’, the cooking show where contestants stage an evening of food and entertainment then rate the efforts of their fellow contestants.
She proved popular with viewers thanks to her lively personality. Selling up and moving was not an easy choice: “It was very difficult to make the decision to leave it behind. I am very involved with football locally. I wrote songs for the team and I sponsored the club. My children went to school in the national school next door to the pub.”
With the demands of being a publican behind her, Colette has mapped out her priorities: “The next chapter is to play golf,” she laughs.
“I have few things in the pipeline. I am not making any major decisions in the immediate term. With my youngest daughter going into her Leaving Cert, I want to be able to give her as much support as possible.”
As a life-long pioneer the former Glán Bar proprietor says the draw of being a patron of public houses is not that strong: “I certainly will grace Glán with my presence, but because I never drank, it won't be often.” The new owners are John and Natalie Brady from Mullahoran.
“It is a very renowned name in Mullahoran,” Collette tells. “He is a businessman and a farmer and I have no doubt he will make a great success of it. I hope he will be as happy in Mullahoran as I was. I could not say enough about all the good people who live there who made me feel at home since I first moved there.”