One of the country’s longest-running family pubs, Kenny’s of Ballygar, will mark a significant milestone this September with a Trad Fest weekend to celebrate 175 years of continuous business.
Founded in 1850 by the Kenny family, but with a lineage of hospitality dating back to 1825 under the Feeneys, the iconic pub has been a fixture in the town’s cultural and social life for nearly two centuries.
Now under the stewardship of Maria Kelly, the bar remains in family ownership, with her parents, Mary and Declan Kelly, continuing to play a central role. Maria’s uncle, Tom Kenny – who ran the pub for more than 40 years – remains closely involved, offering mentorship and passing on decades of experience as part of the pub’s living tradition.
The celebration weekend, taking place from September 5th to 7th, will feature traditional Irish music, storytelling, and what Maria describes as “a living piece of history” in full voice.
“This is more than just a pub,” she said. “Generations of families, friends, musicians, and sporting heroes have walked through our doors. We’re honoured to celebrate 175 years, and what better way than with music and community.”
Located just west of the Roscommon border in the well-known East Galway town, Kenny’s has long drawn custom from across the region and has held a special place in the local imagination. Its unique cultural footprint extends far beyond the bar counter.
In the 1990s, the pub became an unlikely haunt for international stars such as English guitarist Eric Clapton and world billiards champion Ray Edmonds, who were drawn to the area while fishing the River Suck. Previous decades saw visits from American boxer Floyd Patterson (1974), Irish revolutionary and Fianna Fáil politician Éamon de Valera (1927), and, most recently, businessman JP McManus (2024).
Kenny’s has also played host to sporting history: the Sam Maguire Cup arrived in the 1960s with Mattie McDonagh, followed by the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1980 with Sean Silke. In 1985, coming off the back of a win by his horse ‘Forgive n’ Forget’ – Ballygar native Tim Kilroe returned triumphant from Cheltenham with the Gold Cup. And in the ‘90s, Fulham FC based their pre-season training camp out of the bar.
Despite the weight of legacy, the family-run establishment, now in its fifth generation, continues to evolve while holding fast to its heritage. Maria said the festival is as much about looking forward as back: “We’re inviting musicians from near and far to join us – it’ll be a celebration of culture, music, and the people who’ve made this place what it is.”
The Kenny’s 175th Trad Fest runs from Thursday, September 5th, to Saturday, September 7th. Everyone is welcome to join in the truly landmark celebration.
Coffee morning for Parkinson’s Ireland
Kenny’s Bar in Ballygar will mark 175 years in business this September with a special weekend of music, community and celebration.
Festivities begin on Friday, September 5th with a ‘Lights Out – Let’s go back to 1850’ night, when the modern trappings of WiFi, television, lights and jukebox will be set aside. Instead, music and conversation will fill the bar – much as they would have done in the mid-19th century.
On Saturday morning, September 6th, a coffee morning will be held in aid of Parkinson’s Ireland (Galway branch). The event, which runs from 10 am to 1 pm, is in support of a cause close to the Kenny and Kelly families, as Mary Kelly (née Kenny) lives with the condition. All proceeds will go directly to the charity.
The Trad Fest will continue across the weekend. On Saturday evening, from 7 pm, locals and visitors alike are invited to join family, friends and musicians in raising a glass to 175 years of Kenny’s. All musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments and take part in an evening of traditional music and craic.
The celebrations will draw to a close on Sunday evening, September 7th, with a Buíochas Session featuring Aoibhinn and Shaun. A raffle in aid of Parkinson’s Ireland (Galway branch) will also run throughout the weekend.
A pub with a living history
Kenny’s of Ballygar has been a landmark in east Galway for generations – a place where market town commerce met Irish social life, and where the past still lingers behind the bar counter.
Owned by the same family since the mid-19th century, Kenny’s has operated as a hostelry for longer than the state itself has existed. A rare feat in a country whose pubs are closing at an alarming rate.
The story of Ballygar itself dates back further. It was in the early 1800s that the village began to evolve into a key market town in the region. In 1820, a toll market was established by Denis Henry Kelly near the main entrance to Castle Kelly. Kelly, who owned more than 13,000 acres of surrounding land, oversaw a period of economic growth in the area. By 1840, Ballygar’s market was second only to Athlone’s in terms of trade volume. The census of 1841 recorded a population of 5,300 living on the estate. As the market swelled, so too did the demand for housing and shops – many of which were built by Kelly and leased to tenants.
Among those drawn to the growing town was the Kenny family, who arrived around 1850. They would go on to shape and sustain one of Ballygar’s best-known public houses.
In 2009, this paper reported that Kenny’s of Ballygar was to feature in a radio documentary about the place of pubs in Irish life. The programme, Have You No Homes to Go To?, was broadcast on Newstalk 106-108 FM and profiled pubs across the country that had become part of their communities’ DNA.
Speaking to the Roscommon People at the time, Tom Kenny shared memories of the bar and its evolution through the decades.
“My great-grandfather came here in 1850. There were 16 pubs in Ballygar at one stage. Now I think there’s only seven. All the pubs were general stores – they weren’t just pubs. You went in and did your shopping, bought your bacon and your flour, your beef dripping, your groceries. Here, the butcher’s shop was actually part of the bar. I remember seeing the lambs hanging here, up in the front part, and fellas drinking at the bar.”
Tom recalled carnival times in the town, when Kenny’s held a special licence that allowed them to slaughter a cow at the butcher’s block near the front counter. The community would descend, and to this day does, on the premises during festivals and the famous Ballygar Carnival.
In the 2009 interview, Tom also recalled the traditional skill of bottling stout – a weekly chore during his schooldays. “My job always when I was going to primary school was to bottle a firkin of stout every week. A firkin was a small barrel, 64 pints, 128 bottles. I can still count every one of them half-pint bottles.
“We used to have to wash the bottles first in a big tub of water, let them dry, and then dip them to the barrel with a special siphon. I still have the siphon. Then you had to cork them.”
Laughing, he added: “The corks had to be steeped in water to make them soft. There was a machine for fitting the bottles and then you had to bring the Guinness into the house – usually the kitchen – and they were stacked there for 10 days. Sometimes you’d hear the cork flying off one of the bottles – then it was ready, it was mature.”
During the War of Independence, the upstairs room above the bar became a covert meeting place for IRA volunteers. On one occasion, Tom said, three lorry-loads of Black and Tans pulled up outside and took over the bar.
“The fellas thought someone had spilt the beans, and they got ready for a shootout. It didn’t happen in the end – the Tans just came in and drank their fill. You can imagine how my grandfather and the IRA men felt at the time.”
Tom’s late aunt, Winnie Kenny, was working in the bar when the Tans arrived. She told him that sometimes the officer in charge ensured all officers paid for their drinks, and sometimes they didn’t – they simply commandeered the place, as they were known to do across the country during those brutal years.
After the conflict ended and the Irish Free State took shape, the Kenny family pub saw another significant visitor. During the 1927 general election campaign, Eamon de Valera visited Ballygar – and according to Maria Kelly, he called into the pub while in town. De Valera would go on to serve as both Taoiseach and President of Ireland.
Nearly two centuries on from the town’s rise as a market hub, Kenny’s remains part of Ballygar’s living history – one of the few places left where the stories of the past are still told by those with first-hand accounts of a rich and cultured history.
From Eric Clapton to billiards ace Edmonds, angling reeled celebrities to Ballygar!
Speaking to the Roscommon People this week, Tom Kenny fondly remembered his mother’s time running Kenny’s Pub and its associated bed & breakfast nearly half a century ago.
“Coarse fishing was a massive draw in the ‘80s and ‘90s. They came from all over the world to fish the Suck, in Ballyforan and Hollygrove Lake. I remember my mother would host English fishermen and French fishermen here – but they came from everywhere.”
Among those drawn to Ballygar’s waters was Ray Edmonds, the world billiards champion, who visited annually during the 1990s. On one occasion, Tom recalled, Edmonds took part in a friendly tournament with the local snooker club, which later made a presentation to him. The atmosphere that night must have been electric for the local snooker and pool enthusiasts.
But Edmonds was not the only renowned figure to spend time in Ballygar during those great angling years. Eric Clapton – the world-famous English rock and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter – also visited the town regularly. Widely regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in the history of rock music, Clapton was ranked second in Rolling Stone’s list of the ‘100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time’.
Maria Kelly recalled that while Clapton did not stay at her grandmother’s bed & breakfast, he would nonetheless call in each year with a gift. “He used to bring her a bottle of whiskey and call in,” she said.
Between the visiting anglers, the occasional celebrity, and the steady trade of locals, Kenny’s of Ballygar became a hub where world fame and small-town hospitality met. The fishing may have been the lure, but it was the welcome that made the place memorable.
One such memorable occasion was when American Boxing legend Floyd Patterson called in to the bar with “another man” in 1974. Patterson was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it.
Next door to Kenny’s Bar lived a well-known shoemaker and boxing enthusiast, Paddy Kenny (no relation). Realising the magnitude of the visitor to his neighbour, Tom sent for Paddy to call in, and Floyd bought him a pint of Guinness on that occasion. Yet another example of the rich history that Kenny’s enjoys and another testament to the importance of the public house to Irish social life and community.
