Family VALUES

MOTHER MACS’ MIKE MCMAHON IS KEEPING IT TRADITIONAL IN LIMERICK

At the 2022 Bar of the Year Awards, Mother Macs Public House in Limerick took home the award for best ‘Traditional Bar’. Always one of the most hotly contested categories, Mother Macs came out ahead of Dublin institutions John Kehoes and The Stags Head. It was, says Mike McMahon, acknowledgement that they’re doing something right. “The award was great in that it recognised the level of customer service that our staff work exceptionally hard to deliver. Our regular customers also took great glory in it! Awards like these are important because from a brand perspective, we’re now recognisable throughout Ireland. Myself and my brother James celebrated on the night but the next day it was back to business. It’s nice to get an award, but maintaining the standards and the quality you've been recognised for is the hard part.”

Sitting on the cusp of the Milk Market in Limerick City, Mother Macs dates back to 1787. Over the years, the distinctive round-shaped building has served as a pub, a grocery and a whiskey/wine/ tea merchants. Brothers James and Mike bought Mother Macs in 2015. It’s a pub the two boys used to pass every day on their way to school. “It’s literally about 200m from our family home. We mightn’t have seen the inside of it too often, but it’s a building that we knew and loved so when the opportunity to purchase it came up, we decided to trade in our 9 to 5 jobs for something a bit different.”

There are no TVs in the pub (“we encourage conversation”) which boasts probably the largest selection of whiskies in Limerick. Customers can also choose from the 12 pouring taps of local craft beer. “I suppose we like to do things a bit different here. Over Christmas, we ran ‘Opera on the Lane’ in conjunction with the Limerick Opera Festival. We brought two singers onto the laneway beside us in the bitter cold one evening and about 200 people gathered to listen to them. We ran that event for free. We organise quite a lot of events and make sure we utilise the space around the pub.

Business might be good but less money in customers' pockets is a concern. Visits to the pub are now occasion driven, with less people opting to go for a pint just because they simply feel like it. “The Irish pub plays a huge cultural role in this country. It’s a gathering point, a meeting place and it’s something that countries all over the world have tried to replicate, but only in Ireland is it as unique as it is. I think people appreciated that more before Covid and were definitely more inclined to go out. Post Covid, the cost of living crisis means people have less money in their pocket so they’re just not going out as much and when they do, they want a bigger bang for their buck. So they’re going out to celebrate a birthday or anniversary or a specific occasion, as opposed to just meeting the lads for a pint at the counter.”

In recent times, Mike has seen a fourfold increase in his energy costs. “Before all this madness over energy costs started, I would have had to sell four pints of Guinness before I started to make any money. So four pints just to pay for my electricity. Today, I have to sell 34 pints of Guinness every single day just just to cover my electricity costs.” Increasing energy prices coupled with the rising price of a pint are threatening the viability of pubs across the country, particularly pubs in rural regions. “From talking to some rural pubs, they’re really feeling the pinch right now. The pub plays such an important role in Ireland and it’s not valued to the extent that it should be. We’ve already lost too many pubs and unfortunately, I think we’ll lose some more before the year is out.”

The licensed trade is up against it at the moment but there are opportunities to grab hold of too, says Mike. “Customers are more open to new experiences so publicans have a great opportunity to expand their portfolio of products, to highlight and showcase local and artisan beers and spirits and support small operations. Customers today are exceptionally well travelled. They want something different, they want high quality and of course they want value for money. It’s difficult to meld all that together, but it also presents publicans with a huge opportunity if they can do it.”

Mike's main ambition is to still be open in 12 months’ time. “We’re taking measures to ensure we are, but there are no guarantees. With rising energy costs, the increasing cost of wages and supplier costs going up, it’s a genuine risk. It's a conversation that most publicans are currently having; how do I mitigate closure in 12 or 24 months?” Mike has no regrets about buying Mother Macs. “We knew what it was to run a pub and since 2015, we’ve learned what it is to own a pub. It’s a whole new world for us. As a cultural entity, the pub is absolutely amazing. The energy you feel, the conversations that go on, you feed off it. The quality of my life is better since buying the pub, my soul is fuller. Long may it continue.”