Liverpool introduced the Irish-theme pub to England 20 years ago. On St Patrick's Day Peter Elson meets two of the men best known for the idea's success THEY say there's no such thing as bad publicity and when Bob Burns opened England's first Irish-themed pub, Flanagan's Apple, Ireland was certainly in the news. Unfortunately, it was 1984 and the Irish troubles were continuously on the front pages. Mr Burns, who has been long involved in the Liverpool pub business, recalls: "It was a very dubious proposition. It was the height of the troubles and the police were not very keen. "I told them that we were not going to upset anyone and there would even be photographs of the Royal family on the wall." When Mr Burns was young the Irish pubs in England were really just English pubs that attracted an Irish clientele. Having lived in New York and run Irish bars there, he was aware of a different sort of marketing. While New York's Irish bars played Irish music all day, you couldn't even buy Irish music tapes in England even if you had wished to use them. "Although I had been running pubs for a while, it was only when I acquired the Word House, in Mathew Street, that I could build up one from scratch to my specification which was opened as Flanagan's Apple. "I was born in Liverpool 8 by the docks and, back then, Liverpool had a lot of Irish influence from first and second generation families. My own father came from Glasgow, but his father came from Galway." The concept was to give the romantic idea of what an Irish pub should be, rather than replicate any particular Irish hostelry. This came under the umbrella of his company, Endmore, set up in 1980, which he is in the process of leaving. Mr Burns says: "There aren't that many great Irish pubs actually in Ireland any more. They're all in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. I went to Dublin to seek out Irish pubs and they're now all street bars." Flanagan's Apple was a combination of Flanagan's Bar in New York and Dirty Dick's, in Fleet Street, London, which was themed with farming implements, old pictures and other decorative paraphernalia. "Basically, it was things to take your mind off the beer," chuckles Bob. The main New York influence in Flanagan's Apple was the music - unheard of in a pub in England up until then. Mr Burns says: "Often people came in and said that they didn't care for it and I replied that the customers liked it. To me it creates the right atmosphere for dancing and having a good time." His previous pub chain featured disco themes and, while all celebrated St Patrick's Day in some form, he was looking for a property to recreate a more authentic atmosphere all-year round. "Apart from a range of Irish whiskeys, the only Irish beer we sold was Guinness. No other beer is exported from Ireland. We dyed the beer green on St Patrick's Day as a gimmick. That was an idea I brought over from New York. It didn't affect the taste as it was vegetable dye. "I'd say the best Irish pub in London is Waxey Connor's in Leicester Square. The owner came into Flanagan's Apple and just sat there for a week. He wasn't interested in the decor, but the music and its effect on the customers," says Mr Burns. HE sold his chain of seven Irish-themed pubs in 1995 to Bass, which since have developed the O'Neill's chain of Irish-themed pubs into 100 properties. Meantime Mr Burns concentrated on other business including the restoration and running of the former Methodist Central Hall in Renshaw Street, which became Grand Central and Barcelona bars, banqueting and meeting rooms. Now there are more than 400 Irish-themed pubs in England. They filled a niche which the pub marketing people had already discovered with the launch of disco pubs. The Dublin Pub Company exports Irish pub kits all over Europe, with the furthest going to Turkey. Moscow Airport also boasts an Irish pub. "We used to export priests, but we've run out of those, so we export pub kits instead," jokes Mr Burns. His first foray into the themed pub market was in 1974 with the American-themed Maxwell's Plum in Hanover Street, Liverpool. "It became the best pub in Liverpool and we had a wonderful time. It was a restaurant and we changed it, as people thought they'd never be allowed in as it was too posh. "With Irish-themed pubs the big boys saw something that worked and when they checked the through-put of cash were not slow to latch on. They realised that people did not want to sit miserably with their pint, but make a night out with entertainment." Back in the 1950s, Bob remembers St Patrick's Day being celebrated with dances at St George's Hall and the Grafton Ballroom with wonderful dancing. Apart from that, those interested in Irish music and dancing could only indulge at individual parish church halls and social clubs. "For hundreds of years, England and Ireland were united as one country until Easter 1916. My belief is that we have far more in common than dividing us. So I put this into practice with Flanagan's Apple by blending Englishness and Irishness with Liverpoolness." The pub business has changed drastically from the days when it was run by "the beerage", the gentrified brewing families with their large groups of tied houses guaranteeing a market for their beer. They got rather lazy. "When the retailers got up and running, they were interested in selling beer over the counter and with no interest in brewing it themselves. "Irish pubs started as just another pub theme like disco pubs and real ale pubs. "I'd say the fashion for each lasts about 10 years, but somehow, the Irish theme seems to have tapped into something deeper and appears to be set to go on forever as part of the English pub scene." Boxing off the transatlantic theme LIVERPOOL'S close links with both Ireland and the US come together in Terry McHale's American Irish pub, with its arresting mini-Statue of Liberty above the door. This pub shows what can be achieved by one person when they set a goal and work resolutely towards it for the benefit of all. The business started as the American or Yankee Bar at 53 Lime Street in 1830 where it is still located. Before then it was in a property across the street. Popular from the beginning with theatre folk, after World War I it became a favourite of American sailors and military personnel. The ultimate representative of all three was achieved with a reported visit by Frank Sinatra. However, from the early 1970s it attracted the younger, more raucous football crowd. Its renaissance came with Mr McHale in 1990. A dapper former professional boxer, sporting a paisley tie and breast pocket handkerchief, it took him a while, as he says, to clear it out. The pub, now managed by his daughter, Ernita O'Brien, is credit to their hard work. It blends Liverpool, Irish and maritime themes comfortably in two beautifully-maintained wood-panelled bars. Such has been their success that they expanded some years ago into the former Yates' Wine Lodge (Liverpool's first), which by then was a derelict, roofless amusement arcade. This is now kitted out with a handsome mahogany counter from an old bank. In front of the gleaming mirrors and polished wood is a selection of fine Irish whiskeys that say more than any amount of fake road signs to Tipperary. Standing to attention are beckoning amber rows of Tullamore Dew, Powers, Paddy, Black Bush and Te Bheag ("the connoisseurs blend of Gaelic whiskey.") Demonstrating true Celtic eclecticism, the pub also has Welsh whisky in the form of Swn-y-Mor and Glen Usk Welsh dry gin, which Mr McHale has sold for years. A curiosity is the pub's stage which is set like a ship's deck above the front door to save space. "I added the Irish to the pub's name as a tribute to my roots and as Liverpool is the unofficial capital of Ireland. The theme sort of evolved from that to bring that together with the city's American links. I was born in Gerrard Street about 10 minutes walk away from here. One side of the street was all Irish and the other all Italian," says Mr McHale, now aged 70. "It was about to close when I bought it and the police were not too happy as it was regarded as trouble. Even my oldest friends said to me 'Terry you don't need that pub'. "But I like a challenge. I had another pub in Wavertree and the previous manager there had committed suicide because of the pressure from difficult customers. You've just got to make it clear to people how you want to run your business and put your stamp on it. I sorted that out and was then looking for somewhere else. "It cost me money to refurbish it and another two years to rebuild the older, more appreciative customer business that I wanted." Above the pub is his 11-bedroom Shamrock Hotel B&B. Having worked in the Liverpool pub business for 44 years, Mr McHale reckons he holds the record for the longest-running licensee in the city. The president of the Former Irish Boxers' Association, Mr McHale says: "I was only 23 when I started out, having finished my professional boxing career at 24. Back then there were no young managers." Like Bob Burns, Mr McHale looked to the US rather than Ireland when it came to theming the pub in an Irish manner. At a previous pub, he introduced the idea of a free jukebox playing Irish music and also acknowledges the debt of Bob Burns' Flanagan's Apple in Liverpool. "I'm not into head-banging music, but we don't do Irish music all the time. "We include music from the 1940s through to the 1960s." Mr McHale is already involved in his next venture, the Famous Crocodile pub in Hartington Street, off North John Street, which is to get a partial Irish make-over. He is supporting plans to start a St Patrick's Day Parade in Liverpool and today the pub's customers get shamrock (flown in from Knock) and a St Patrick's Day hat. As Mr McHale points out a photograph of him in his boxing-days prime, a visiting young Irish woman compliments on his looks of 50 years ago. She swoons: "Your picture makes my heart beat faster." He immediately responds: "Well, don't let it stop!" Obviously there's still plenty of life in the old dog yet. | 
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