Clarkes & Sons History

The building itself dates back to 1800, with the front we see now from about 90 years later. The pub was first owned by one Thomas Reid, who was father to the renowned Drogheda artist Nano Reid, so perhaps the current clientele are drawn by her legacy. The pub was said to have been a playground for Nano and her sister Mollie, with a gamut of nooks and crannies to explore. You can imagine the two girls spending happy hours swinging on the doors of the snugs and playing hide and seek in the various compartments. 'The pub really hasn't changed at all since it was first built,' says Mary Ellen, who works alongside Gill Durnin and Declan Dawe, with owner Fionnuala Keenan rarely on the premises. 'The four snugs were put in because women weren't allowed to drink in public back then, but they are still really popular today with people who want a quiet drink, or a bit of privacy.' It wasn't always possible to have a quiet drink. Around the time that Nano's father was still landlord, a report appeared in this very paper of a drunken brawl that spilled out onto Peter Street. 'On Saturday night, nine free fights took place in Peter Street...The Kanes, Stewarts, Duffy's and several other belligerent tribes were engaged in the conflicts...' The local sergeant was overwhelmed. '....There were four or five batches of them fighting and pulling each others hair. Mary Ann Banks was stuck in the hair of Mary Stewart and she in hers, and when I separated them, they were at it again in another place.' A family of Connollys also owned the pub at one stage, but the premises is currently named after the proprietors who took over in the 1940s, Patrick and Mrs Clarke. 'That's all she was ever known as,' says Mary Ellen with a smile. 'He was a formidable character by all accounts, and was very strict with his customers. In fact, I heard he banned half the town at one stage, so it's amazing he had anyone to serve.' But Paddy was a great fan of the panto, and when the show was being held in the parochial centre across the road, he would throw open his doors to the cast to use his snugs as changing rooms and to serve refreshments to the actors and actresses. 'It's great to work in such an old building, full of history,' says Mary Ellen, who grew up in Darby's pub in Togher so is no stranger to the trade. 'The interior hasn't been touched as there is a preservation order, and there was a medieval well, and a system of tunnels in the cellar that were sealed up in latter years.' Surely an old building like that would be haunted by a ghost? 'Well, I've never seen anything,' she says, 'but one of our regulars Matt Collins told me that the night old Mr Clarke died, the shelf behind the bar fell off the wall with an almighty clatter, so maybe that was him saying goodbye.' Haunted by ghosts or not, the little pub is certainly still attracting the punters and Mary Ellen puts this down to a number of factors. 'We have a great band of regulars who come here to set the world to rights and a lot of people like the music we play,' she says. 'The staff all get on really well together and with the customers, so there's always a really relaxed atmosphere, and I think that's what keeps people coming back.' -