A new lease of life for Bucko’s Bar
By Tom Gillespie
ONE of Castlebar's oldest licensed premises has resumed trading after being closed since the Covid lockdown.
Bucko's Bar on Linenhall Street has reopened under the management of Pat Moran, whose family has a long association with the pub trade in the county town.
A member of a very popular local family, Pat is son of the legendary Paddy Moran of the St. Helena Bar on Rush Street.
Bucko's Bar previously traded under the names of The Yew Tree and Sam Adam’s before it was taken over by Mr. Moran.
The original owner of the premises was Bucko Sheridan, a name that is fondly remembered in the town, and older residents will recall that the Sheridans kept a cow at the rear of the premises who was marched through the bar every evening to a stable at the rear.
Mr. Moran has spent weeks organising Bucko’s for the countdown to reopening. One of the major additions is the provision of food from the extensive kitchens at the bar.
Breakfast will be served from 9 a.m. with an extensive lunch menu as well as evening meals.
Pat told me: “I have had to make many changes, the main one being to cut down on capacity. All the bar stools are gone. Seating capacity downstairs is confined to 28 to 30 and 18 upstairs.
“Before we closed and the onset of Covid I would have been here 11 months and we were building up a nice trade. I was preparing the kitchens for opening then and I had staff employed when the shutdown happened.
“Once we closed all I could do was keep an eye on the place. When a place is closed for six months things start to go wrong. We have had some maintenance to do. We had a few problems but they are all sorted now.
“To reopen some work had to be done on the kitchen and the cold room.”
Prior to the closure Pat was assisted by his two sons - Aiden (21) and Stephen (16).
Pat added: “Now I have taken on a chef and a kitchen helper as well as a couple of waiters. In all I will be employing up to 10 people. I feel confident having built up the trade that it will hold but it will take time to get it all back.
“I am going to open early in the morning for breakfast. We will be doing light lunches and a few hot specials. We will pick three to four days in the week where we will be doing food up to 8 p.m.”
Pat acquired his first publican’s licence from his dad in 1983 - 37 years ago. He working for Paddy for six or seven years before that.
Pat has vast experience of the food trade having done food in the Bourbon Bar (the Sunflower) and Lightening Jack’s (Spencer Street), which he ran several years ago.
Pat stated: “I am used to dealing with food and I am getting back in to it again. I have attractive menus to get the customers back in.”
An unusual feature of Bucko’s is the smoking area upstairs that extends out over the town river that flows by the pub.
He continued: “We are lucky we have fine toilets and a disabled toilet downstairs that service the main bar and in the upper floor we have separate toilets.
“I am delighted to retain the name Bucko’s as everyone remembers the Sheridan family. The pub is now quite modern compared to the old Bucko’s and retaining the tradition of Bucko’s is very important to me.
“We will be doing the full Irish breakfast or just a breakfast sandwich and I am looking forward to standing behind the bar, taking the orders and working with our team.”
Prior to the lockdown Pat entertained his patrons with a two-hour gig while music was also provided on other nights of the week.