Harringtons of Kingsland

It was well before the turn of the century that the Harrington name first appeared over the door of the old thatched pub in Kingsland. The pub was previously owned by Molly O’Brien, and I can recall many of the older generations refer to it as “Molly O’Brien’s”.

My great grandfather who was also John Harrington, purchased the premises from her in or around 1895 for the sum of £80. It was this man who set about establishing the business on a firm footing that has stood the test of time, making it one of the oldest established licensed premises remaining in family owner ship in the West of Ireland.

My great grandfather’s intention was that his son John Junior would take over the business. But the son had other ideas and wanted to see the world. He emigrated to the USA. My great grandfather then leased back the pub to the O’Briens around 1904. It is said there was no charge involved. On his return in 1912 he found that Molly had married Pat Harrington and they were not in favour of handing back the premises. Long and costly legal proceedings followed with the outcome decided at a circuit court in 1913 in favour of John Junior, my grandfather. The case is entered in the Irish Law Reports of 1913. 

With this behind him John Junior received the licence in 1914. He brought with him some ideas from the States and developed the business as a one-stop shop. Apart from the usual groceries, it was possible to buy shirts, trousers, wellingtons, shoes, meals, flour and lamp oil. These items appear on his invoices which are still to be had in houses in the local community. 

He married his wife Mae in 1923. My father John Francis was born the following year and another son Christy in 1929. Then, 1930 his wife Mae died.

Sometime after her death a tinker, collecting feathers, called and finding my grandfather a bit under the weather asked, “any feathers?” Not getting a reply, he asked again. This time he got a response, my grandfather grabbed the horse whip and declared, “by God, I’ll give you feathers” as he chased him out and down the road. 

The children from the school would come up to the shop known as “Johnnies” for sweets and, believe it or not, cigarettes. These came in packs of five Woodbines. He would give them two on the first impossible to keep track of this. The story goes that some of the cute ones always managed to get three each time. If a child was caught smoking in a National School today there would be a rumpus. 

John Junior died in 1937, then his sister aunt Winnie became guardian of John Francis and held the licence from 1937 - 1946. Aunt Winnie, with the help of John F. and her niece Bridie Harrington, had to take the business, which was in decline for the latter years of my grandfather’s life, and build it up again. She worked extremely hard. She got an exemption for an NACA. Sports event in Breedogue in 1944. She was caught for after-hours in 1942. However, the court took a lenient view, and because of her situation she wasn’t prosecuted. Towards the end of her time, she started to bottle her own Guinness. She died in 1946 and my father John F. received the licence.

It was during the 1940s that the pint went from 7d to 8d and it was a national outcry at such a huge increase by Guinness. To put it into context it would be equal to a 25p increase today. Boyle was the hub of the National backlash, and it organised a committee known as the “Boyle Froth Blowers” which held its first meeting on the courthouse steps. The organisers urged a huge crowd to boycott porter until Guinness dropped the 1d increase. The idea of the boycott was a great success until it was discovered that the same leaders had been seen breaking their own boycott on their way home, from the meeting. This signalled the end of the organisation.  

My father took over the business in 1946. It was by now well established, and he made it an even greater success. These were the years of the turf cutting in local bogs, Tonroe, Finisclin and Mon-dubh. There was plenty employment with one or two from every house in the community engaged in turf production. The average wage was between £2 .50 and £3 weekly. It was the first time that wages on this scale were paid in this area. With the pint at 8d and great thirsts to be quenched, business was brisk. In 1947 on St. Patrick ‘s Day his takings were almost £50 with ten firkins of porter and 40 dozen bottles sold. Very good by even today’s standards. He expanded the bottling of porter and introduced the bottle of Smithwick’s, a new choice. He had his own name on the labels for the first time. 

My father had electric light in the bar, driven by a small generator. This engine was maintained by local mechanic Mick Muldoon and Kevin Meehan. This also powered a mechanical brush for washing the bottles which was operated by Jack Kivlehan. Jack could be heard all day talking above the din of the engine. If the engine noise got louder or in frustration, he would raise his voice so as if to hear what he was saying so he could make the proper reply. “Or maybe you couldn’t get a word in edgeways”. Likely and hardly ringing out every couple of minutes. To the stranger it would appear there was a ‘meitheal’ of men at work, but to the local it was just Jack as normal talking to himself. As each bottle was washed, Jack would throw his keen eye on it to make sure it was spotless, before placing it in 12 dozen crates to be stacked and left to dry. The corks were soaked for days before using. These corks were driven into the bottle by a wooden mallet. The excess was cut off to give a neat appearance. Soon after this came the cooking machine and then the metal caps, as used today.

Then came the labelling which was done by dipping each label in milk and fixing it on the bottle. It stuck like glue. As there were only a few radios and no TV, people had to make their own fun. There were many tricks played on poor unsuspecting people in those days. During World War II the Germans had bombed Dublin, a crowd of local lads staked out Matt Beirnes field to prevent them from landing in Kingsland

By John Harrington

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