A QUAINT bar has served its final customers after its owners took the decision to retire.
Publicans Richie and Patricia Edgar pulled their last pints and served their final ‘mineral’ on Sunday, after running Patsy’s, in Kilkeel town centre, for 49 years.
With just shy of half a century of experience in the industry under their belts, this well-known and sprightly husband and wife team are beginning to embark on a change of pace in their lives.
Opting to close the doors of their premises along Greencastle Street wasn’t an easy decision for them.
Patsy’s isn’t the most conspicuous building in Kilkeel’s town centre but it has an unforgettable charm.
It has remained relatively unchanged, and that includes the refusal to install a card machine.
High stools hug the bar, so punters can eye up the optics and the taps.
It was a spot to not just mull over the day’s events in the area, but to chat about sport, compare the latest racing tips, make new acquaintances and enjoy general bar banter.
Patricia, or Tricia, always made sure things never got out of hand or no-one ever took a joke too far!
Its walls are skilfully painted with murals featuring Tricia’s beloved Greencastle, plus a horse racing scene, as a nod to their now defunct punters’ club, a farming mural complete with a fantastic plough horse, and the Haulbowline Lighthouse, in Cranfield Bay.
One of the best things about the bar is the fact that you don’t have to call in for a half ’un or a pint of their finest.
Many of their regulars do not drink, but still called in for their daily catch-up over a cuppa or a soft drink.
And that’s what has made Patsy’s so unique over the years.
Whilst the bar, with its ‘old codgers’ corner’ and its friendly welcome, will be sadly missed, Richie and Tricia’s retirement is well deserved. Their tenure at Patsy’s will be remembered fondly the world over.
Over the years visitors from near and far have been welcomed through the doors and enjoyed an afternoon or an evening listening to the craic, maybe playing cards, or darts on a Friday night.
On summer days the front door would be left open to let a bit of air in, and the buzz of busy Greencastle Street would fall away, and all eyes would be focused on the racing on the TV in the corner.
Then, when the weather turned, you would be guaranteed a warm hearth and a roaring fire in the back bar.
Patsy’s was a meeting place, where customers became friends and as the doors close for the last time, it marks the end of an era for Kilkeel.
Hanging proudly on one of its walls is a photograph of a cheque presentation, which recognises the Kilkeel couple’s generosity.
As well as serving customers day and night, they raised tens of thousands over the years for a number of deserving charities, the Southern Area Hospice in particular.
Sitting in the back bar on Saturday, the warmth and appreciation for them was evident.
People called in with retirement, good luck and ‘thank you’ cards, wishing them well and thanking them for their service and friendship over the years.
The bar, which the Edgars explained was open to all, and had great support from its loyal clientele, has been central, not just to Richie and Tricia, but to their wider family.
Their daughter Ciara and several of their nieces all helped out over the years.
After school Richie had his first jobs in the town’s cinemas, and in one of these he first set sights on his future wife.
He went on to train as a baker, working in Kilkeel and Annalong.
Then he was approached by the bar’s owner, Mr Patsy Trainor, to come and work with him in 1975.
The Edgars quickly decided this was the job for them and subsequently they took on the lease and purchased the bar.
They kept it named after its former owner.
Having lived in a flat above the pub for many years, Patsy’s really was, and remains, special to the couple.
Emotions have been high of late, with the date of the bar’s closure nearing.
And it will be missed by their many regulars, who see the retiring publicans as a very special couple, who are more than just the owners of their ‘local’.
Patsy’s was an institution to them, and those who have gone before them.
Long-departed punters are lovingly remembered in photographs behind the bar.
Other pictures proudly on display show just some of the many donations to charities, including the local hospice, Mourne Stimulus and Daisy Lodge.
Another photograph, which takes pride of place in the back bar, shows the late Mr Trainor.
An anonymous review from ‘Pub Spy’, printed in the Belfast Telegraph, is also on show.
Its author, who called in on more than one occasion, noted how ‘the banter and craic was infectious’.
These attributes of ‘banter and craic’ have been constants of life in Patsy’s.
Whilst in the bar on Saturday, I was even treated to a fantastic opera rendition from a customer who was proud to speak of his Italian-Irish descent.
Applause rang through the building and spilled out onto Greencastle Street at the end of the first of his performances, which came at Richie’s behest.
The couple take great pride in declaring that Patsy’s was a meeting place where customers became friends.
Thanking their patrons for their loyalty over the years, Richie and Tricia have described the bar as their life and their customers like members of an extended family.
“It will be a big change, but this day had to come, and we have no regrets,” the retiring landlady said.
Over the years Richie always ensured customers got home safely, even personally taking on the role of dropping them off at night.
He said having the bar was always more than just a job.
Having seen some changes in those 49 years, the couple wish to thank everyone who has, over this time, “set foot over the door and given their company and their custom”.
“You would come in for the first time as a stranger but always left as a friend,” his wife added with pride.
One of their nieces, Mary Boden, worked in the bar as a student.
Mary said one of her abiding memories will be that her aunt and uncle’s bar “always had a very respectful crowd, who always cared for each other”.
She added that many of the regulars “will be lost” with the closure of Patsy’s and the camaraderie and kinship it helped to provide.