A living legacy: Ballymore pub to mark 145 years in hands of same family

This August bank holiday weekend, Cassells Pub in Ballymore will celebrate an extraordinary milestone: 145 years of continuous family ownership.

As the longest-running family-owned pub in the village – and probably one of very few in the entire country to be in the ownership of one family for so long – the pub is a tangible link all the way back to post-famine Ireland, and owner, Jimmy Cassells is guardian of a real piece of Irish history, and of a story hinging on resilience, tradition, and community.

Looking ahead to the 145th anniversary celebrations, Jimmy is excited to mark the occasion with those who have made the pub what it is – the people of Ballymore. “If I don’t mark the 145th,” he jokes, “I might not be around for the 150th.”

The Cassells family first set foot behind the counter of the pub at Low Street, Ballymore in 1880: Jimmy’s grandfather, James Cassells, originally from Collierstown, which is about two miles from the village, initially rented the pub, living quarters, and a quantity of land from then-owner, Robert Mannion, of Mullaghcloe, Ballymore.

A few years on from that, James married local girl, Marcella Fury, and the couple went on to start a family. Marcella gave birth to seven children. However, tragically, as was common at the time, the couple suffered the loss of three of those children.

Further tragedy struck in 1899 when James died: heartbreakingly, his death came just seven days after the birth of his youngest daughter, Annie. At just 33 years of age, Marcella was left to rear Annie, and her older siblings, Joseph (3); Francis (Frank) (6) and Mary (8).

Marcella appears to have been well able for the role thrust upon her: she went on to buy the business, and reared her young family, although Joseph went to live with his paternal grandmother, Anne, in Collierstown.

Frank Cassells – Jimmy’s father – eventually took over the reins from his mother. He married Mary Hanley from Walshestown, and the present owner, Jimmy, was born into their family of six. His siblings are Sr Marcella (Dublin), Bridget (Athboy), and Frank (Cork). Their late sisters Kathleen (Bray) and Nancy, also known as Anne (Cork), have passed on.

Pub work was more laborious in the early days of the 20th century than now, when everything is delivered: “There was no draught beer and no electricity,” Jimmy points out.

In his father’s day, Jimmy explains, the Guinness beer was delivered in casks to Streamstown railway station, from where Francis transported it to Ballymore: in fact, hanging on the wall of the pub is a stunning painting of Frank – copied from an old photograph – showing him on a horse and cart collecting supplies from the railway station.

Once it arrived in Ballymore, the stout then had to be bottled, a task still going on when Jimmy was a boy, and he enjoyed helping with the process of bottling the alcohol and corking or capping the bottles. The family had their own labels.

“You couldn’t use the bottles straight after they were filled: the drink had to ferment for a minimum of seven weeks, and it had to be kept cool,” says Jimmy.

In consequence, pubs needed to have a lot of storage space – both for full bottles and the empties, which in accordance with the times, were re-used.

Remarkably, Jimmy still has the equipment used in those processes, and it is on display behind the bar.

Like many rural Irish pubs of its era, Cassells was more than a place to drink – it was also a grocery store, vital to the everyday needs of the community. Ledgers going back to the 1920s and 1930s still in Jimmy’s possession show bulk purchases of flour, sugar, and bacon as well as pollard – a meal used to feed livestock.

“They’d have bought in several tons a year when you add it all up,” says Jimmy pointing to the entries relating to purchases from the Clara firm Goodbody as an example of the extent of commerce conducted to keep the business stocked and running.

Cigarettes were bought in their thousands as the ledger shows under the page headed ‘John Player’. Bacon was bought in from Castlebar.

Remarkably, at that time, there were several groceries operating in Ballymore: “There was Peter Geraghty’s, Bridgie Furey’s, The Cash Stores; ‘Big Anthony’ Cunningham would have sold some groceries in his pub Cunningham’s and of course Joe Cormack in what is now Rooney’s,” he points out. He himself only stopped selling groceries in 1979.

There were times when money was in short supply: “Groceries were often sold on tick,” Jimmy explains. “People didn’t always have money until they sold cattle.”

Among regular customers, Cassells Pub became a second home. “Certain fellows wouldn’t go anywhere else,” Jimmy recalls fondly, recalling that the pub was smaller then, and heated by a potbelly stove. Spirits like Powers whiskey were top-shelf favourites, while Carling was a regular beer. Vodka and gin were less common – the former considered a ‘women’s drink’ at the time.

In an era when women rarely entered pubs through the front door, Cassells provided a snug at the back, where ladies could gather over a genteel glass of port or sherry. “They liked to have a chat among themselves,” Jimmy says.

In 1979, Jimmy rebuilt an older construction adjoining his home, and he shifted the pub into the newer part, allowing him to provide more space for customers.

For many years, Ballymore had six pubs and its several grocery stores. Now it has just three pubs, and one grocery shop. One of the pubs – O’Neill’s – was claimed to have been one of the oldest in the country: a Westmeath Examiner court report from 1928 stated that at that stage the licence was 140 years old, which would have meant it was issued in 1788.

There was a lively social scene in the village – augmented by the Ballymore Carnival of the 1960s and ‘70s. Held in a marquee, the event was a magnet for country music fans, and the local pubs would have secured late-night extensions to cater to post-carnival crowds.

Adaptation and Modernisation

In 1974, Jimmy installed a pool table, which proved to be a draw for younger patrons. Though sceptical at first, he embraced the change – just as he later welcomed the smoking ban, which, as a non-smoker, brought him relief from the ever-present haze behind the bar.

“For some reason, the smoke always seemed to drift to inside the counter,” he says.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced the pub to close its doors, and unlike other premises, Jimmy couldn’t reopen under the food-service exemption due to lack of facilities. It was a strange time, but it brought unexpected freedom: as a part-time farmer, he was able to leave the premises and enjoy the chance to get out into the open air while the pandemic ran its course – and there was something of a novelty to the feeling of being able to have his evenings free.

Jimmy has much memorabilia from the past on display in the pub – and among the artefacts is a framed copy of its 1910 licence, which required seven local witnesses to vouch for the good conduct of the licence-holder. The names on it – James Connaughton, Joseph Fury, Edward Geraghty, John Ennis, Michael Scally, Joseph Farrell, and Patrick Ennis – are still familiar in Ballymore today.

Jimmy also holds a 1914 commemorative poster presented to Marcella Cassells by Guinness – a testament to the family’s standing in the brewing community.

Many have forecast the demise of the rural pub, but Jimmy is happy that he is seeing the custom to sustain his seven-day week opening, and in fact to enable him employ a bar man.

A local committee has come together to arrange the activities for the August bank holiday celebrations. The members are Ciaran McCormack, Brendan McNamee, Noel McDonnell, Edwina Connell, Louis Meares, Gerry Egan and Jimmy himself.

The details are still being finalised, but what is looking likely at this stage is that on Saturday August 2, Sam Moran will be DJ, and then Eamon O’Neill will play live.

Sunday August 3 will be a family day, with a barbecue for customers and friends, live music and activities for children. That evening, the band ‘Something Simple’ will provide the entertainment.