{"id":619727,"date":"2026-08-04T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/619727\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T10:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:28:18","slug":"notoriously-grumpy-belfast-publican-says-first-day-of-fleadh-his-busiest-in-36-years-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/619727\/","title":{"rendered":"Notoriously grumpy Belfast publican says first day of Fleadh his busiest in 36 years \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belfast\u2019s<\/a> \u2018notoriously grumpy\u2019 publican<\/a> John Bittles has declared the Fleadh a \u201cgame changer\u201d for the city after opening day handed him the busiest Sunday he has seen during 36 years pulling pints at the well known bar.<\/p>\n

Mr Bittles previously hit the headlines for refusing to serve customers who ordered half pints or a glass of coke, however, the well-known Belfast landlord is now smiling as his bar is packed to the rafters thanks to the Fleadh.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish News on the second day of the all-Ireland Fleadh, the owner of Bittles Bar on Upper Church Lane said the eight-day festival<\/a> was the single biggest thing he had witnessed in half a century in the trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday was as good a day as I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"Mo<\/a>\"‘You’ve<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as a Sunday would go, that was the busiest Sunday in 36 years. As far as the day would go, it was as busy a day as I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Bittles said the benefit was already visible in many places across the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a game changer for Belfast – not only for the pub trade, for Belfast,\u201d he told The Irish News.<\/p>\n

\u201cOurselves yesterday, and just generally around the city centre<\/a>, all the bars, people have gone out of their way. They\u2019ve put on all sorts of things. It\u2019s brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having walked the city centre himself on Sunday, the publican said the crowd was drawn from every section of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody seemed to be soaking up the atmosphere. I had a walk around the city centre myself, and I\u2019m doing this a long time \u2014 this is the biggest event I\u2019ve seen and everybody seems to be doing well out of it. Definitely the biggest ever in 50 years, the biggest event by a mile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bittles Bar has held its pints at \u00a36.50 for the week, with Mr Bittles saying he had not raised prices for the festival. The bar is running informal drop-in sessions rather than a booked music programme. \u201cYou just rock up and you play away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked what Belfast might retain once the Fleadh moves on, Mr Bittles pointed to the outdoor tables that have appeared across the city centre this week, giving parts of Belfast a continental feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more outdoor seating the better,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed this month the cruise ships are in practically every single day, and all those people off the cruise ships are maybe a bit more used to it, they want to see it, it\u2019s good to see, it looks well. A lot of the outdoor stuff, it\u2019s not shabby looking \u2014 it\u2019s neat and tidy and clean.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people next to me today, everybody\u2019s sitting out, they\u2019re having their breakfast down the street. It\u2019s not particularly a sunny day, but those people are outside. So it is a thing people are doing and want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belfast\u2019s \u2018notoriously grumpy\u2019 publican John Bittles has declared the Fleadh a \u201cgame changer\u201d for the city after opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[663,91098,79,179,18,117,144574,19,17,337,17827],"class_list":["post-619727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-belfast","tag-belfast-city-centre","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann-2026-belfast","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-pub"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117036772341940417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619727","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=619727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}