NEW BOOK: “The Irish Pub Invention and re-invention” published by Cork University Press

The Irish Pub
Invention and re-invention

Edited by Moonyoung Hong and Perry Share

When and how was the Irish pub invented? Or indeed the ‘Irish pub’ – now to be found in thousands of places across the world. How has the pub evolved to become a global symbol of Irishness and how has it come to occupy a central position in our drama, poetry, novels, art and design? Does the pub remain a crucial place in the Irish community, or has it been usurped by the coffee shop and the gym? Does this matter? Often labelled an institution ‘in crisis’, what indeed does the future hold for the Irish pub in Ireland and internationally?

This is the first book-length academic study of this celebrated institution. Academic and field experts across history, literature, sociology, psychology, music, architecture and the field of food and drink studies interrogate the many ways the Irish pub has been invented and reinvented over the centuries. It offers hidden histories, inside stories, new perspectives and perceptive analyses, such as the role of female publicans, gay social life in early 20th century, diasporic Irish pubs and interviews from pub-owners and goers. From Dublin’s Long Hall to Oliver’s Place in Lapland, it draws on the experiences of hundreds of Irish pubs, both celebrated and obscure, to provide a complex picture of this global phenomenon.

As ever in its history, the Irish pub is changing and evolving. This fascinating and engaging volume will inspire some concerns, and some hope, about its future trajectory and place in the world.

The Irish Pub is edited by Moonyoung Hong and Perry Share. Moonyoung Hong is Assistant Professor in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong. She obtained her MPhil in Irish Writing and PhD in English at Trinity College Dublin. She is author of Tom Murphy’s Theatre of Everyday Space (Routledge, 2025) and has published in Irish Studies Review, Comparative Drama, Études Irlandaises, and Review of Irish Studies in Europe (RISE). She is on the executive committee for the Irish Society for Theatre Research (ISTR).

Perry Share is Head of School of Business and Social Sciences at Atlantic Technological University. He is a sociologist with a broad range of interests, from technology to education to food and eating. He is co-author of A Sociology of Ireland (4th edition, 2012) and of a number of publications in the sociology of food and drink. He is an Editorial Board member of the European Journal of Food, Drink and Society and was formerly external examiner on the MA in Gastronomy and Food Studies, Technological University Dublin.

We need more writing like this, treating the Irish pub as the vital cultural institution it is. Pubs play a huge role in Irish life, yet there’s still a lack of serious study to reflect that. The Irish Pub beautifully gives pubs the recognition they deserve and goes some way to place pubs on the cultural pedestal they have earned.
~Ali Dunworth author, A compendium of Irish pints

The Irish Pub is declining sharply at home even as it sweeps the rest of the world. Yet it retains its classless allure, like that of the beach in Brazil, as a place where all social types freely mix. This book is a fine tribute to the heterodoxy and democracy of that splendid institution, raising the hope that it will return to former glory.   ~Declan Kiberd, author of Inventing Ireland, University of Notre Dame

This exciting new book provides the first full-length academic engagement with the phenomenon of the Irish pub from a historic, literary, political, sociological, economic, design and psychological perspective. It is warmly welcomed in the growing  field of food, beverage and hospitality history. A magnificent volume.
~Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire, co-editor of the award-winning Irish Food History: A Companion

A truly compelling book that details the integral, varied, and complex role that Irish pubs play in our society from the 1400s to the present day. The volume weaves together a most remarkable tapestry of interdisciplinary scholarship that draws from sociology, history, interior design, tourism, heritage, literature and music, with each chapter offering fresh insight into this unique facet of Irish socio-culture. A thoroughly enjoyable read and much anticipated contribution to the field.
~Áine Ryan Mangaoang, Associate Professor, Department of Musicology, University of Oslo

 This is an engaging and well-researched collection. Impressive in both breadth and magnitude this original volume brings together diverse approaches that contribute to a more rounded understanding of the Irish pub in Irish life and culture. ~Daithí Kearney, Co-Director of the Centre for Creative Arts Research, Dundalk Institute of Technology

Introduction: Inventing the Irish Pub
Moonyoung Hong and Perry Share

1. From Drink Shops to ‘Traditional’ Irish Pubs: Laws, services, and invisible women, c.1400-1950

2. Irish Pubs and Gender: Segmentation, containment, and integration

3. The Irish Pub: Views from social science

4. Pubs and Gay Social Life in Dublin, 1923-1973

5. Therapeutic Value and Lived Experience of the Irish Pub

6. Exporting the Irish Pub: An interior designer’s perspective, 1990 to 2000

7. How a Home Should Be?: Gender, identity, and belonging in the Irish pubs in London, Dublin and Belfast

8. Discourses of Inclusion and Exclusion: Gender, race, and point of origins in Irish pubs

9. The Road to McCarthy’s Bar: Travel, translation and the Irish pub

10. Grim Days in the Pub

11. Paula Meehan’s Pubs: From pub counter to counter-public sphere

12. The Stage Irish Pub: Irish pub drama 1900-2020

13. Traditional Music and the Appeal of ‘the pub’

14. The Pub as Infrastructure of Musical Exchange in Contemporary Cork and Galway

15. The Perfect Pub

16. Rural Pubs and Publicans in Contemporary Ireland

17. Doing It For Themselves: New promotion realities for the 21st century Irish pubs

18. Lockdown: The pub as an icon of Irish identity in the Covid-19 pandemic

Conclusion: From the global to the personal
Perry Share and Moonyoung Hong