A pint of plain for a royal visitor

IT isn’t often you have royalty sipping a pint in your pub. But Harry McManamon, proprietor of The Grainne Uaile pub in Newport, has the photo to prove it - and it holds pride of place in his premises, writes Tom Gillespie.

That was back in 2011, when Prince Albert of Monaco popped in with his wife-to-be. He was in the area visiting the ancestral home of his mother, the late Princess Grace, at Drimurla outside the west Mayo town.

Accompanied by the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring, the prince mixed with locals and even sang a song. “His then wife-to-be came up to the counter and sat in with the locals,” Harry recalled.

The opening of the Great Western Greenway from Westport to Achill has been a boon for Newport and Harry has seen an upsurge in business.

He took up the story: “In 2005 we decided to go into food. Before that it was just a bar. It is going great for us. It has started quietening down now. The greenway has made a huge difference to us. Our season now starts at Easter. We are getting a lot of traffic coming in from Westport. For families staying in Westport, it is only seven miles away and it is an easy journey for young kids. They can stop here, walk around the town, enjoy the playground and head back again.

“We thought last year was very busy. This year was busier, certainly August was, and September was very good because of the weather. Those using the greenway are starting in Westport, stopping off in Newport, and going on to Mulranny and down to Achill. In April we had over 30 German tourist operators in here learning about the greenway and the Wild Atlantic Way. Already we are getting business from the Wild Atlantic Way.

“It is only in the last few years that tourism has taken off here. It was always Kerry to Connamara. They forgot about this part of the world.”

There are a lot of loop walks off the greenway which are proving very popular, Harry said. “You can go up into Furnace around the lakes and up into the hills as well.”

The pub business is picking up again, he added. “It is getting better. “I remember when we would not see anyone here until June and after the August bank holiday it would be over.  Since the greenway opened the season starts earlier and goes on later,” he said.