The Pub:

In Ireland the pub is the center of local culture, a meeting place where stories and songs are shared over a beverage and sometimes a meal. Derived from the term public house, it literally was a portion of a person's home opened to the public at large. The tradition of hospitality is celebrated in the very essence of the Pub. A vital aspect of the Irish Pub is music or Ceol as it is called in the Irish language. Singing and dancing is the natural result of good ceol.

The Trade:

The building of a true Pub is ideally an outgrowth of the space it is to inhabit.  A bar for preparing and serving drink, a large table around which the musician can sit and play, a bit of open floor space for dancing, a hearth for a fire and some chairs and table for enjoying it. It must serve the needs of the 'would be' Publican and his or her patrons. Most pubs, meeting the previous description are in small working class towns and hence have a simplicity of design and function. The experience of a visitor walking into a pub of this kind is one of immediate comfort and familiarity. Whitewashed walls and dark wood beams comprise the construct of the space, while eclectic furniture pieces fill it out with places to sit and eat. In all cases the furnishings follow the same simplicity of function pattern. Solidly built utility is the trademark of the workingman's Pub and it's appointments.