The Joker | IrishCentral

Public houses in Ireland are usually known as pubs. The Irish pub is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks that are consumed on the premises. An Irish pub usually bear the name of the current or a previous owner. Before supermarket and grocery chains came to Ireland in the 1960s, an Irish pub usually operated as a “Spirit grocery.” The pub would be combined with a grocery or some other business, such as a hardware store. Some people running pubs also worked as undertakers. This unusual combination may still be found these days in the Republic of Ireland. Spirit groceries first appeared in the middle of the eighteenth century, when a growing temperance movement in Ireland forced Irish pub owners to diversify because sales of alcohol went down. Even today, an Irish pub often resembles a grocer’s shop from the nineteenth century, with the bar counter and shelving at the rear taking up most of the space in the main bar area. The National Trust's Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast is a traditional Irish pub, as well as the city’s oldest bar. The Irish pub had a new wave of prominence in North America during the 1990s. These new Irish pubs were modeled on Ireland’s Victorian pubs. It was in Ireland that the millwork and fittings for these Irish pubs was crafted, which helped these clubs come across as authentically Irish. Purists claim that the notion that there is more live music in an Irish pub than in other bars is a tourism myth. Traditional Irish pubs outside of tourist areas in Ireland generally do not have live music. An Irish pub of this type might also not serve food.

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