Mullingar celebrates and looks forward to a great 2022

Members of the hospitality sector are predicting a bumper year for Mullingar and the rest of the county following the lifting of almost all the Covid-19 restrictions last Saturday.

Many pubs and restaurants in Mullingar recorded their busiest weekend in two years as large numbers of people met up with family and friends to celebrate the return of normal life.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, the chairman of the Westmeath branch of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, Liam Gilleran, said that everyone involved in the hospitality sector locally is “absolutely thrilled to bits, everybody is delighted to get back to normality”.

The Mullingar publican said that people were “out the door” at his gastro pub on Saturday evening.

“Any fear that people had about things not going back to normal was completely erased on Saturday night. People had manners, in all fairness. It was just lovely, the whole ambiance of it.

“Punters who enjoy a pint sitting at the bar were able to do so for the first time in two years, much to their delight,” Liam says.

“It’s amazing the amount of fellas that came back to the bar – they couldn’t wait. It took them two years to walk about two yards. It’s great for everybody. Thanks be to God, we can put that stuff behind us now.”

The “whole town was buzzing on Saturday evening”, Liam says, and he expects the good times to continue for the rest of the year.

“We are going to have a great year in Mullingar between the Westmeath Bachelor Festival (April 29 to May 1) – Shane Barkey and Tomás Nally are organising that great event – and the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (July 31 to August 7). I think we are in for a massive year here in town.”

John Cochrane, the manager of the Greville Arms Hotel, said that both The Greville and Danny Byrne’s pub are looking forward to a busy year.

“We are delighted with the return to normal business hours. It’s great to see all our customers and friends back again.

“The Greville Arms has had a lot of enquiries regarding weddings, functions and restaurant bookings, our room bookings are the best ever.

“We were very busy at the Greville Arms Hotel and Danny Byrne’s last weekend.

“We had to put up the house full sign outside Danny Byrne’s last Saturday night. All in all, it’s great to be back again to near normal,” he said.

The Westmeath Bachelor Festival takes place on the May bank holiday weekend and will be first major event of its kind to take place in more two years.

After having to cancel last year’s event, manager Tomás Nally said that it was a “massive” relief when Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced the end to some of the most stringent Covid restrictions in the world.

“We have been building up a head of steam and we were hoping that nothing would trip us up. It is fantastic news for everyone,” said Tomás. “These are the couple of months where we really need to put in the hard work and if the restrictions were still there everyone would be nervous. We are the first festival on the calendar and it will be huge for Mullingar and kick off the year well.”

Tomás estimates that the three-day festival will bring in between €1m and €1.5m to the local economy.

“That will be across the board between restaurants, pubs and hotels. It will be a huge boost before the fleadh comes.

Joe Connaire, the chairperson of the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann organising committee, said that he has "no doubt" that this year's event will be the biggest in its history.

"We have been waiting for this news for a long time. Since the fleadh was called off in 2020 we have been waiting for good news like this. As a committee we have been working from when the fleadh was called off in 2020 right through to now to make sure that we were prepared when we got the green light.

"We have been planning for the big event and never took our foot off the gas. Now that the good news has come out we are over the moon that we can approach households for accommodation and the public to be volunteers. The other big area will be hitting is sponsorship."

Joe is confident that this year's fleadh, which it's estimated will be worth €50m to the local economy, will break all records for a number of reasons, he says.

"Basically, the fleadh family that comes year in, year out, that is their holiday every year. People have missed out for two years.

"Also, the 25 per cent of fleadh visitors that come from overseas they have missed out as well. At all stages we have been in contact with people from North America, Argentina, Japan and all these places. They are saying that they can't wait for the fleadh in Mullingar and that they are all coming. I have no doubt that the fleadh will be bigger than previous years because the restrictions we had to endure over the past two years," he said.