Enter atmospheric pub that once counted a legend of Old IRA among its regulars

Sunday World

18-05-2025

Le Chateau |
Le Chateau first welcomed customers when the French Revolution was raging and St Patrick's Street was still a river
Michael (left), son Mick (centre), and brother Dan (right) behind the counter of Le Chateau on St Patrick's Street
Boats sailed up and docked, enjoying fine wines and spirits, before carrying on along one of the city's many canals. Over 230 years later, the pub – now known as Le Chateau - has seen the great and good of the city, including sports stars, politicians, and an IRA general, among their regulars.
'We're only the fourth family to own the pub in all that time,' Michael Reidy tells me. 'We took it over in the early 30s, my dad is originally from County Limerick, and he came to Cork for work. My dad died in 1959, so my late mother Mai took over the pub with her sister Maura.'
Pulling pints, in a time when you weren't allowed to drink them, as well as raising a young family without husband Dan, made 'Mai' one of the very many exceptionally strong women who defied societal norms - and antiquated laws - to create a life for themselves.
'At that time, it was a tied house to Murphy's Brewery,' the younger Dan, Michael's brother, tells me. 'In '74 then we purchased Keely's Bar in Faulkner's Lane and knocked the two bars into each other.'
A sign of the old Faulkner's Lane, which became no more following the construction of Opera Lane
It meant the pub – now the last remaining on St Patrick's Street – had three entrances, causing Mai a headache on more than one occasion.
'These lads were on the lash, and they came in the front door, so my mother told them 'No lads, go away home',' explains Michael. 'They went away, but came back about an hour later through the Academy Street entrance and she told them, 'Lads, seriously now, go home, I'm not serving ye.'
'Don't they come back in again through Faulkner's Lane, thinking it was another pub. Once they saw her again behind the bar, one of the group piped up 'how many more bars in Cork do you f**king own?''
Mind you, the bar was a tight ship under Mai's command, but she wasn't the only general standing by the counter.
'My big memory when I was older was when General Tom Barry used come in here, and we used to be afraid of him,' said Michael.
'He was very stern and austere, and we used to say he'd have a gun! He'd stand at the bar, and he'd have a trilby hat.
'We didn't know everything, but we knew what he had done!
History dots the walls of the bars, including these caricatures of old Cork 'celebrities'
'We used to have Jack Lynch (former Taoiseach & All-Ireland winner) come in, and they'd all come out of the woodwork when Jack Doyle (former boxer and showbiz star) would come in because he'd always pick up the tab!
'Roy Keane tells a story of how he signed two professional contracts in the pub on the same day. In the morning, he came in and signed for Cork City upstairs and then came along later that afternoon and signed for Cobh Ramblers downstairs!' Keane would later recount the same story at University College Cork years later.
'Gay Byrne came in with Mike Murphy one day to meet a prominent Cork businessman at the time. They were in during the holy hour, so Gay asked my mother 'are ye closed,' so which she replied, 'we are, but if you sit over there you can have a drink while you're waiting.'"
The pub has been in the hands of the Reidy family for over 90 years
The city has changed since Mai and Maura's time. Local communities have moved out, but a whole new group of young professionals have moved in. The pub has naturally had to change over the years as well, while their extensive wine list stays ever present, hand-selected by Michael himself.
'My mother used always say, 'if you stand still, you don't stand a chance'' said Michael. ''You must serve your drink in perfect condition; you must serve quality drink, and you have to constantly reinvest in your business. Last June we got new pipes, beer lines, refrigeration, glass washers, we upgraded everything.'
'There's nothing expected from you, apart from total change!' jokes Dan.
'There are 64 big apartments over us in Opera Lane,' says Michael. 'You have the people who are in the shops who are regulars, you have people specifically coming into town. What's been very good for our business is all the different bus services.
'We find that people, instead of having three small nights, they'll have one big night,' adds Dan, 'they'll go to a meal and a show, and they'll use the bus services to come in and out and have a drink here.'
A view over St Patrick's Street from Le Chateau
And over two centuries on, the French connection remains.
'We've loads of French customers, and we have French staff as well,' Michael explains. 'They understand (the history), when people come to Cork now, they like to find out about the history.'
'Days of just coming into a city (are over),' adds brother Dan, 'they have it well researched now. Even before you go away on your holidays, you know what you're going to eat.'
The bar was looking resplendent in the afternoon sun, with the outdoor seating full of life, with white wine, Aperol Spritz, and cocktails replacing the winter fare of hot whiskeys, mulled wine, and pints of stout.
'There's a big emphasis on seating outside, that's one of the major changes in the last 25 years,' says Michael, who revealed the pub take out public liability insurance covering up to €13 million.
Le Chateau is the last bar on the street
'Young people are drinking less, but they're trading up when they're drinking,' said Michael, 'we'd be one of the few bars that would carry an extensive range of Champagne. People mightn't go in for it every day, but for occasions they come in because they know we'll have it.'
We've had big offers over the years, but we'd be very reluctant sellers
Michael's son Mick has taken over the running of the bar now, with his dad and uncle keeping a close eye. They say working in the pub business has kept them youthful.
'We'd have more young friends than older friends now,' explains Michael. 'We've had big offers over the years, but we'd be very reluctant sellers.
'I went up to a reunion for my old commerce class a few years ago. They were all talking about their health and pension plans, I was so bored I did a Houdini and came back down here, I met three prominent young Republicans.
'I had more fun with them in the hour and a half than I did with people my own age group!'