MIC’s Dr Paul O’Brien is set to launch his newly published book Taprooms, Taverns & Alehouses: Limerick City Pubs, ca. 1850-2024 at the College on Friday 11 October.
Co-written with William Banks, the book catalogues the many public houses that have opened their doors in the city over the past two centuries. A highly detailed and illustrated account of the pub trade of Limerick city, the book comprehensively catalogues every pub in the city over the past 200 years, along with a collection of oral histories and stories from many of Limerick’s older publicans and bartenders. Alongside almost 500 photos, Paul’s research catalogues over 1,000 premises that have traded in the city in that time and includes records of businesses and their owners dating as far back as 1760.
Speaking about the publication, Paul said: “The stories of the many pubs of Limerick are an important part of the history and identity of our city. These are histories that need to be both preserved and celebrated. We hope that this book might help to keep these fondly remembered places and people alive for future generations.’’
Describing the inception of the book, co-author William said he and his 85-year-old father began reminiscing about visiting pubs during lockdown: “We took out a bit of paper and listed all the pubs we could remember in Limerick. We ticked off all the pubs we were in. When we did that, we realised between us we were in 95% of them.”
From there, the project grew in scope with Paul joining and the two spent three years researching the many taprooms, taverns and alehouses in the city. The pair made some noteworthy finds during their research, including that of those 800+ named pubs, well over 50% were owned by women. The pair have pointed too to the need to capture and preserve many of the histories they researched, given that at least 110 of these premises in the city have closed since the early 1970s.
The book launch will take place at 7pm Friday 11 October in room T118 on the MIC Limerick Campus. The first run of 1,000 copies sold out in five weeks, with all of the €30,000 proceeds being donated to Down Syndrome Limerick.
The book will be available to buy on the night in MIC and online via www.downsyndromelimerick.ie.
