Sean's Bar Explained
Sean's Bar is a pub in Athlone, Ireland, notable for its reputed establishment in AD 900, and claim to being the oldest extant bar in both Ireland and Europe. Other architectural and archaeological records, including the Record of Monuments and Places and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, date the building to the 17th or 18th century.
Age and history
Archaeological surveys indicate that the oldest parts of the building were constructed in or around the 17th century, with some more ancient materials perhaps having been scavenged and reused from elsewhere. The latter includes research, including by John Bradley on behalf of the Office of Public Works and published in the Record of Monuments and Places and by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, which suggests that the building dates to, while "possibly containing the fabric of earlier buildings". A 1738 rental survey refers to the building as the "Three Blackamoor Heads".
During renovations in the 1970s, it was discovered that a back wall was partly made of wattle and wicker. A number of tavern tokens, of an unspecified age and now on display in the National Museum of Ireland, were also found.
In 2004, Guinness World Records issued a certificate to Sean's Bar as the "oldest pub in Ireland". The proprietors have claimed to possess a list of "nearly all previous owners" going back centuries, potentially to the time of Luan, after whom Athlone town is named.
In February 2021 the owners of Sean's Bar, in conjunction with other Irish bar owners, won a landmark court case related to insurance pay-outs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.
See also
References
Sources
- Book: Bradley . John . John Bradley (historian) . Halpin . Andrew . King . Heather A. . 1985 . Urban Archaeological Survey for County Westmeath . Office of Public Works . Dublin . .
- Book: Daugherty, Christi . 493 . Frommer's Ireland . 22 . Frommers . 27 December 2011 . 978-1118027653.
- Web site: Flynn . Sean Patrick . Pull up a Chair and Have a Drink at the Oldest Bar in Ireland . Departures.com . 22 May 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180522222029/https://www.departures.com/travel/restaurants/seans-bar-oldest-ireland . 22 May 2018 .
- Book: Gwynn, Stephen Lucius. The Fair Hills of Ireland. Joyce thinks that Luan was a franklin, charged with the duty of hospitality, who maintained here a place of lodging, and that the place was called after him, Ath Luain, Luain's Ford . 250. 1914. Maunsel.
- Web site: MacEacheran. Mike. An Irish pub born in the Dark Ages. 24 August 2021 . bbc.com. BBC Travel - Food & Hospitality . 14 March 2019 . en.
- Web site: O'Connor. Amy. Sean's Bar in Athlone is Ireland's oldest pub - and a bona fide tourist attraction. 24 August 2021 . TheJournal.ie. February 2018 . en.
- Web site: O'Connor. Rachael. Séan's Bar: Ireland's oldest pub is 1,119 years old and is still going strong. 24 August 2021 . 5 August 2019 . The Irish Post.
- Web site: O'Faolain. Aodhan. High Court rules in favour of pubs in FBD Covid closures case. 5 February 2021 . 24 August 2021 . The Irish Times. en.
- Athlone Pedestrian and Cycleway Bridge - Environmental Impact Statement - Volume 4 . May 2017 . Roughan . O'Donovan . An Bord Pleanala . .
- Book: Fodor's Essential Ireland 2020. 2019. Fodor's Travel. 9781640971714 . Sean's Bar styles itself as the world's oldest pub (a claim some cynics dispute, although a framed certificate from Guinness World Records says otherwise) . .
- Web site: Sean's Bar/Shines Hairdressers, 11-13 Main Street, Athlone and Bigmeadow, Athlone, Westmeath . National Inventory of Architectural Heritage . buildingsofireland.ie . 26 August 2021 . Terraced three-bay two-storey former coaching inn, built c.1725, possibly containing the fabric of earlier buildings . .
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