Lift home ‘guaranteed’ at Top of the Town
The news that taxi licences have declined significantly in Co Cavan in recent years has generated much discussion on the evident shortages at night after the pubs close their doors.
One local publican, however, has found a solution to the problem and says, without it, his pub would be closed.
Finbar Donoghue runs ‘Top of the Town’ in Cavan. He says customers to his pub are guaranteed a taxi home because of the working relationship he has with local drivers.
The popular publican feels, if he didn’t provide a taxi home for his patrons, he would be gone out of business. “I’d be closed.”
“I’m very lucky because I have a few great taxi drivers and it means that people in the pub will get a lift home,” explains Finbar.
He says his customers can come into his establishment, confident they will get a taxi home. “I know there are people across the county who are concerned about going out because they believe they won’t be able to get a taxi home. But if people are coming to my pub, all they have to do is let me know when they arrive that they’ll need a taxi and I’ll organise it for them,” he promised.
Meanwhile, Finbar highlighted the important service that taxi companies in Cavan Town are providing to members of the public.
“Local tax companies in Cavan Town are great and they are providing the service people need,” he added. “There’s Floods; Cavan Cabs; local lads; and Drumalee Taxi, Paul Sheridan. If I book with them, then my customers will get home. I have a good working relationship with the taxi drivers in Cavan town but because they are no longer visible on the streets, when people come out of an establishment they immediately think they aren’t going to get home. The solution is that, if you have booked the taxi, it will show up and be there.
“The days of walking into a taxi company to get a taxi home are over. If you are going out for the night then you organise your lift home with the establishment you are socialising in. That’s the way it is these days.”
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