Quick post today. Off and on rain. Did walks between the raindrops. Had a great dinner at James G Ashe’s Seafood Restaurant and Bar. (James Ashe, long dead, was a wealthy man – he owned the Guinness distributorship for all of County Kerry. The family still does, and Guinness controls distributing rights to Carlsburg Beer and Budweiser as well). After dinner it was music at O’Flaherty’s (Ui Fhlaithbheartaigh in Irish).
Ashe’s first served beer in 1849. In 1926 when the bar was passed on to John Kennedy’s eldest daughter, Hannah & her husband James Gregory Ashe, the bar’s name changed to ‘James G. Ashe’, as it remains to this day. Over the years Ashes has seen many famous faces pass through its doors. Indeed, Gregory Peck, a cousin whose grandmother was an Ashe from Dingle, visited a number of times, and his family continue to drop in when in Ireland. During the filming of David Leans’ “Ryan’s Daughter” in the early 70s’, Ashes became a hot-spot for both cast and crew, many of whom became quite partial to Kates’ Irish stew. More recently the cast and crew of “Far and away”, including Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, based themselves here.
I met Kate on my first visit back in 2000 and she regaled me with the history of the bar. She recently passed away after a long illness. The bar & restaurant is now run by her daughter-in-law, Sinead, who is always behind the bar.
Click on the galleries to bring up a scroll-able window with complete pictures – (the gallery previews below show just thumbnails of the pictures) There’s also a link to a video I made in O’Flahertys’
Dick Mack’s Bootery and Bar
Dinner at James G Ashe’s Restaurant
Music at O’Flaherty’s
Bill and I are still laughing at the posted sign about “Life after Death”. I would agree Joe, not your typical Irish welcome!!!!