The Village Pubs of Cork: ‘There’s character in the walls here’

The Blackbird is a family-run pub situated along the main thoroughfare of one of Cork’s most picturesque maritime villages, Ballycotton. It caters to locals, passers-by, and even the odd celebrity.

In folklore, a blackbird can be symbolic of many things and in Ireland it is associated with transformation and rebirth. A fitting name over the door of this business; the building dates back to the 1820s and has seen numerous incarnations, as a pub and at one stage as a hotel.

Its homely exterior suggests that inside you’ll find good stout and a snug or two. And you will. But there’s more to The Blackbird than its homely exterior hints at.

Inside, there’s a touch of the well-seasoned rickety pub about it. A step up here; a step down there; a nook here; a cranny there. There’s an L-shaped bar with plenty of taps and the shelves are stocked with a healthy selection of wines, spirits and most anything else you fancy.

Beyond all that, at The Blackbird folk nights, seafood and language evenings serve the music, foodie and Irish-speaking communities.

Mossie Tattan met me as he dealt with a keg delivery. He and his brothers John and Michael took on The Blackbird in 2011, after a ten-month closure. “It was called An Lon Dubh before that which is Irish for The Blackbird, but we changed it because Americans or Germans wouldn’t have known what it meant.” Mossie explains

Mossie Tattan from The Blackbird. Picture: Noel Sweeney

The licence is still that of a pub and a hotel.

“There’s actually a hotel licence written on it,” Mossy says. “People used to come to Ballycotton to recover. Doctors would say, go down for the salt water and the fresh air.”

Out back, there is a beer garden and a glass-fronted function space with four long dining tables that Mossie calls the ruin-room. It was once a ruined building in a cobbled courtyard with a post office, a sweet shop, and a fish smoker. “It was like a little market,” Mossy says. “Coal merchants, smoked fish, smoked ham, a market with all the bits going on. There’s character in the walls here.”

Prior to 2011, Mossie’s background was as a DJ. “I worked at Gigi’s in Youghal, The Park, a few bits around Midleton. We said we’d take The Blackbird on, it’s a local bar, and we’re locals, so why wouldn’t we?”