One last weekend at Gartlan’s
After more than a decade at the helm of one of County Cavan’s most treasured landmarks, Pádraig and Sheila Smith have officially handed over the keys to the iconic Gartlan’s Pub in Kingscourt. They brought back the historic thatched pub from the brink and made it a homely place embraced by locals and visitors alike.
Family, friends, musicians and loyal customers gathered over the weekend for a fitting send-off, with ‘Weekend at Gartlan’s’ celebrating the couple’s ten years of stewardship and memories that have defined the pub since it reopened under their care.
“Sad but happy,” describes Sheila her feelings on Monday, still in the pub cleaning up and gathering bits. The story began in 2014 when the Smiths purchased the iconic building, which had closed the previous year after falling victim to the recession. What they inherited was far removed from the bustling traditional pub it is today: The roof was failing, the building was in a poor state of repair and the only source of heat was an original pot belly stove that still proudly stands in the old bar today.
Rather than seeing an old pub, the couple saw a piece of Kingscourt’s heritage worth saving. “We had the passion for the heritage of the place and so we wanted to plough on with it and try and save it,” Sheila said at the time.
As custodians of a protected structure, every aspect of the restoration was painstakingly planned. Every photograph, ornament and antique was catalogued before being carefully removed, restored and returned to its original place. Modern comforts, including central heating, were introduced without disturbing the character of the building, while the roof was restored and the distinctive thatch carefully preserved.
The result was exactly what they had hoped for. “A lot of people would walk in and say it looks the same as what it did before,” Sheila reflected after the restoration was completed. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of work that went into this to make it look like there was no work done.”
When Gartlan’s reopened in 2016, it quickly regained its place as one of the county’s most distinctive pubs. Without televisions or Wi-Fi in the old bar, a sign behind the counter simply reminded visitors to personally engage with one another: “No Wi-Fi, talk to each other.”
They did. “The community was marvellous throughout,” Sheila says.
Traditional music flourished, with regular Thursday and Sunday sessions becoming a fixture for musicians and revellers. Instruments hanging on the walls were never merely decorative but were there to be picked up by anyone willing to join the session. Tourists from around the world found themselves stepping through the famous thatched doorway, many leaving behind signed banknotes from their home countries as lasting mementoes of their visit. “There are very few places like it,” Sheila once said. Last year, the couple made the difficult decision to place the pub on the market. While there remained enormous potential to further develop the courtyard and outbuildings to the rear, the decision ultimately came down to timing. Having reached retirement age, they felt it was the right moment for new energy to carry the business into its next chapter while protecting the heritage they had worked so hard to preserve. “I have mixed emotions, it was a good journey, but it was time to hand over the reigns,” Sheila says. With the Corscadden family who are taking over, she believes the Gartlan legacy is in very good hands. “They are interested in keeping up the old, true to its original glory and enhance and build on that.”
Now it’s time to lie the “feet up for a while”. Only a “bit of B&B”, a side business she has maintained all these years, will keep Sheila occupied. And the tin whistle. She started learning it six months ago! So now, when Sheila goes into the pub as customer, she can join in the lively music sessions herself. And even though the ‘premium seats’ as they are known are usually occupied, patrons are probably willing to share them with the people who made this near derelict place a home.