More than 70 people put money forward to purchase the pub

13:31, 11 Aug 2026Updated 13:32, 11 Aug 2026

Tigh Laitiarain on opening weekend(Image: Tigh Laitiarain – Instagram)

For many small towns and villages across Ireland, the pub is at the very heart of the local community. It’s the place for celebrations, consolations and everything in between, but as more people move to larger urban centres and rural populations dwindle, it’s become difficult for many publicans to justify keeping the doors open.

In Cullen, a small village in North Cork, there were once five pubs serving customers year-round. Yet as the years passed, they each closed one by one, until, in 2024, the final bar, Tigh Laitiarain, shut its doors when the publican who rented it decided to change careers. The closure had a massive impact on the social fabric of the 400-person village, to the point that a 70-strong group of residents banded together to raise the money to reopen it.

The investors came from all walks of life, united by the common desire to reinvigorate the pub that had once been the heart and soul of the village – and by all metrics, they’ve certainly succeeded.

Nowadays, Tigh Laitiarain is a vibrant social hub that caters to the whole community, whether it’s a group of young people looking for a night out or some of the town’s older residents just looking for somewhere to socialise. One of the pub’s new directors, Damien Hickey, said that the reopening has made a massive difference to the local community, and whether or not they make a few bob in the long term, the important thing will be keeping the doors open for everyone.

He said: “We bought the last remaining pub in our village, which closed almost two years ago, and since then, we’ve found that there was a social hub missing that was needed in the community. So, we decided to get together as a community, buy the pub and reopen it for everybody.

“We formed a limited company, we have 5 directors and 38 shares in total. Some of the shares are just single shares, but some have two or more people involved in them. There are upwards of 70 people from the community involved in total.

“The main thrust is to bring back a social venue for everyone, for our young people, for our elderly, for everyone to enjoy. Hopefully, it will be viable going forward, and if we make a bit of money out of it, great – but the main thing is to keep it open and keep the rural community alive,” he told Ciara Kelly on Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder.

Damien spoke proudly about how, since reopening, the new pub has attracted a wide-ranging crowd and how their ambitious new bar manager has made key changes, such as installing a beer garden and hosting parties for local events.

Summertime is ideal for the reopening of a new pub, but when cold winter nights come along, business can slow down. However, Damien says that the community is confident the pub will receive the patronage needed to stay open, even through the tougher parts of the year.

The station also spoke with Pat Crotty, CEO of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, who commended the people of Cullen for their hard work in reopening the pub. The industry rep also spoke about the importance of rural pubs and how their persistent closures highlighted the need for greater Government support.

He said: “So many of us live in urban centres now that we do see the pub as just another business, or just another shop on the street. When you go to rural communities its a different thing altogether, it’s where everything starts and finishes. New ideas are begun, and celebrations when these ideas come to fruition are held in the pub, it’s the heart and soul of everything.”

The Vinters Federation is calling on the Government to implement a tax break for small pubs, as those that do not serve food were excluded from the VAT cuts enjoyed by the hospitality industry last year. Mr Crotty said that many publicans had seen their profits slowly drop to nothing in recent years and called for a new tax credit on draft beer, the only product unique to pubs.

The industry group argues that such a targeted measure would provide the much-needed relief for pubs while ensuring that other alcohol retailers like supermarkets and off-licenses aren’t affected.