{"id":186984,"date":"2025-11-18T11:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T11:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/186984\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T11:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T11:13:11","slug":"i-dont-want-it-to-be-about-the-drink-but-to-be-a-community-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/186984\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I don\u2019t want it to be about the drink…but to be a community hub\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coachford is a village that has seen its share of change in recent years, including at Paddy Mac\u2019s pub, with Aileen O\u2019Donovan at the helm.<\/p>\n

Aileen, who took over the pub in mid-Cork in July of this year, didn\u2019t come from a traditional hospitality background.<\/p>\n

Having worked in the corporate world while based in East Cork for a time, she returned to Coachford eight years ago and found herself drawn back into the pub business. Her cousin was running Paddy Macs for the three years before, and Aileen helped out a lot. Then, Aileen stepped in and took on Paddy Mac\u2019s with a vision of her own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t really built for the corporate world, let\u2019s say. I\u2019m a more social kind of person. I wanted to do something for myself. I grew up in a family that had their own businesses. So, it was something always in the back of my mind.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt was either going to be a cafe or a pub, or working in a cafe or a pub. And this just came up, and I said I wasn\u2019t going to leave it. I knew the place inside out anyway. So it was just natural to just step into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pub itself has a long history. It was originally a hotel and at one stage a draper\u2019s shop. \u201cIt used to be a hotel called Burkes Hotel. This was a draper shop back in the day. So, it was, the family who owned it were the Burkes, and then Tom Walsh married one of the Burke daughters. And he took over the business. And this was turned into a pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, the pub became a staple in Coachford, but Aileen recognised its potential as a venue to reach a wider demographic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been a traditional Irish pub, which I love the look of, but I know now in today\u2019s society, the youth don\u2019t really drink as much. They prefer to have something to go to. You just don\u2019t want to go to the pub anymore for a couple of drinks. That kind of culture is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Aileen, that meant turning Paddy Mac\u2019s into a community hub that caters to people of all ages with an array of interests. Mondays host a darts tournament, Tuesdays feature an Irish-language group called \u2018Circa Cainta\u2019, and the first Tuesday of each month sees traditional Irish music sessions with Ceoiltas.<\/p>\n

\"AileenAileen outside Paddy Mac\u2019s in Coachford. The building has a long history and was originally a hotel.\t Picture: Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

On other nights, the back room might host board games, painting classes, or movie nights and gigs, all part of her vision to create a space for everyone, regardless of whether they drink alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want it to be a community hub. I don\u2019t want it to be about the drink. There are two other pubs in the village. They have their niches. Like, Reardon\u2019s is brilliant for the food, I want it to be similar, but not to take away from them either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very into the music and the arts and all of that. So, I kind of focus a lot of the attention on the back (room). Not to focus, you know, because you see recently people are like, oh, no, I don\u2019t want to go drinking. You don\u2019t have to drink to be in a pub. You know, you can go down to the function room. You can play board games with your friends. That\u2019s become very popular, the board games.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Paddy Mac\u2019s is building a name for itself as a live music and events-centred pub, something a bit smaller might be noticed when you visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAileen\u2019s pet, Pippa, a rescue dog, greets visitors, and will be spotted around the caf\u00e9 service that Aileen facilitates on Monday and Tuesday mornings, which fills a gap when the neighbouring Boathouse caf\u00e9 is closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Monday and Tuesday mornings, I do just toasted sandwiches, loaded croissants. They\u2019re very popular.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pub has also embraced live music and comedy, hosting both established and up-and-coming acts.<\/p>\n

Reggie Blackrock, Ross Brown, and Paddy Casey are all lined up, alongside the Dublin City Ramblers and Ronnie Drew\u2019s son in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a very strong musical community here and an arts community here as well.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cPeople do appreciate something else to go to. They appreciate the effort that\u2019s gone into it. They appreciate the range of different things that are available in the village. Not just here, you know. There\u2019s something for everyone in this village.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

A non-drinker shouldn\u2019t feel out of place in Paddy Mac\u2019s. While it is still a traditional pub, alcohol is not the main focus. Aileeb offers teas, coffees, hot chocolates, and toasted treats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people are sitting here, and they\u2019re with a group of 20 people and they want to just stay on water for the night, I\u2019m not going to be like, \u2018Ah, he\u2019s just drinking water\u2019. They\u2019re out socialising at least,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"ForFor Aileen, taking on Paddy Macs is about community. Picture by Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

For Aileen, taking on Paddy Mac\u2019s is about community. Giving something back to Coachford.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hated to see the village kind of dying. When you grew up somewhere and there was so much activity, then you see it kind of dwindling.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think the village has just come into a new life recently, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The publican\u2019s work is yielding results. Locals and non-locals are rediscovering Paddy Mac\u2019s as a viable option in Coachford while visitors are drawn in by its new offerings.<\/p>\n

The integration of music, arts, and coffee mornings has transformed what was once a quiet corner pub into a lively, vibrant venue where people of all ages feel welcome.<\/p>\n

Looking forward, Aileen hopes her model can inspire other rural pubs in Cork and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with smaller villages, you do need to put a bit more effort into creating events and drawing people to the pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I don\u2019t like the word pub either. I wanted to be like a public house where people feel that they\u2019re welcome here all the time. There\u2019s so many things for them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Paddy Mac\u2019s, Aileen O\u2019Donovan has created a space that remains true to its traditional roots as a pub, yet it\u2019s innovative in its catering to the non-drinking customers. A model I suspect we\u2019ll be seeing a lot more of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coachford is a village that has seen its share of change in recent years, including at Paddy Mac\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,17827],"class_list":{"0":"post-186984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-pub"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115570410309016143","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}