A new book being launched this week traces the hundreds of public houses that have traded in Limerick since the mid-nineteenth century.
Taprooms, Taverns and Alehouses: Limerick City Pubs ca. 1850-2024, by William Banks and Dr Paul O’Brien chronicles the Limerick pub trade in all its facets over the course of nearly 200 years.
It traces the hundreds of public houses that have traded in Limerick since the mid-nineteenth century, with many of the pubs contained in the book tracing their origin to the late eighteenth century.
Paul and William undertook painstaking research across a wide range of sources including private photograph archives, public collections, trade directories, newspaper reports and notices.
(via Down Syndrome Limerick)
In addition, they interviewed many publicans in the city, some of whom have been behind the counter of a family pub for more than fifty years.
The in-depth research revealed many surprises including the number of public houses owned by women – approximately 60% – until the 1960s.
Other stories to emerge over the three years of their project provided insight into the number of licences issued in the city, for example, in 1869 a local magistrate dubbed Wickham Street as ‘Whiskey Street’ because all but two houses on the street traded as pubs.
Taprooms, Taverns and Alehouses: Limerick City Pubs c.1850-2024 is richly illustrated and features many heretofore unseen photographs of Limerick hostelries side-by-side with brief but interesting histories of each pub profiled.
There is an index of 1,000 pubs in the book – some of the lost pubs on the list will be familiar, others not so.
The authors are delighted to partner with Down Syndrome Limerick for the project. All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the charity.
