Keeping it in the family

Lifestyle – This weekend the fifth generation of the Kinnevey family will take over the running of a pub that has become an integral part of the community in Roscahill since 1826. The transition is going smoothly as Judy Murphy found out on a visit to the premises.

This Friday, Jonathan Kinnevey will become the fifth generation of his family take the reins of a business that has been part of the community in Roscahill, on the Galway-Clifden Road, since 1826.

His parents, Jack and Nuala who ran the pub for 40 years will have a formal ‘handing-over’ ceremony on the premises to mark the occasion, although they’ll continue to help out as needed.

For more than 50 years, Kinneveys’ has been based in a large 1960s building on the righthand side of the road in Roscahill as you drive from Galway – “it’s known as the orange pub”, says Nuala with a laugh. That description will have to change, as it’s being repainted a cream colour by the next generation, Jonathan and his wife Nollaig.

Originally, Kinneveys’ pub was across the road, in a building that’s still standing. It doesn’t look particularly impressive from the front, but the back is a different story – it’s deep with stone-cut features in a large space that contains the ruins of stables.

During the 19th and early 20th century travellers stabled their horses there while travelling from Galway City to the greater Connemara region, explains Jack, who was reared in the now roofless building.

Although he formally took over the business 40 years ago, Jack who’s a youthful 70, has been working in it all his life, and has fond memories of the original premises.

When he’d come home from school in the evening, he’d help out, and it was normal to have customers in the kitchen having a pint while the family was having dinner, he recalls.

“We were brought up with it and we didn’t mind.”

Those were days when women didn’t frequent pubs and weren’t encouraged to – there was a small snug at the front especially for the rare female visitor.

“It was all men at that time,” he observes, “and today, there are nearly more women than men.”

Friday was the day when pensioners came in for a drink after collecting their money in the Post Office, which also formed part of the Kinnevey family business, along with a grocery.

Jack recalls one occasion when a group of 14 pensioners from opposite sides of the parish challenged each other to a tug-o-war over post-pension drinks one Friday.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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