Global search to secure future of iconic Mayo pub
HEINEKEN is launching a worldwide recruitment campaign to find a successor for Josie McLoughlin, owner of McLoughlin’s Bar on Achill Island.
This initiative marks the Irish launch of ‘For the Love of Pubs,’ a transformative new programme over the next three years, designed to support, sustain, and celebrate Irish pubs.
McLoughlin’s Bar, a fourth-generation family pub established in 1870, faces an uncertain future as Josie McLoughlin, with no direct family to inherit the business, seeks a new custodian to continue its rich legacy.
HEINEKEN is stepping in to help Josie find a suitable namesake, launching a global search to keep the McLoughlin name above the door.
Josie McLoughlin explained: "I have no one to leave the pub to, and I’d resigned myself to looking for a buyer outside the family and seeing my name being lost to history. That would just break my heart.
"The name McLoughlin is woven into the very fabric of this pub. The past 50 years have been incredibly fulfilling for me and I’d love to see that story continue, finding a McLoughlin descendant to take it forward.
"If I could guarantee the McLoughlin name would still be above the door of the pub in another 155 years, I’d die a happy man.”
The global recruitment campaign will include billboards and digital advertising in cities with large Irish diasporas, from Times Square in New York to Sydney and Vietnam.
HEINEKEN® will offer a comprehensive succession package to the chosen candidate, to help them get their feet behind the bar, including mentorship, business support and initial investment guidance to ensure the pub remains a thriving part of the community.
McLoughlin’s Bar, established in 1870 in the heart of Achill Island, is arguably one of the most beautiful pubs in the world.
This campaign offers a unique opportunity to own a piece of Irish history.
With stunning wild views of the Atlantic and Slievemore mountain, a warm community, and a thriving traditional music scene, Achill Island provides an idyllic setting for a new chapter in the McLoughlin’s Bar story.
The Banshees of Inisherin was also filmed nearby.
Speaking about the initiative, Pat Crotty, CEO of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) said: “Rising costs, changing consumer habits and industry pressures have presented great challenges for some in the pub trade.
"But our industry is resilient, strong and ambitious.
"HEINEKEN Ireland has always shown commitment to meaningful, long-term support for the industry, and never fails to find new and innovative ways of doing things.
"For the Love of Pubs feels like the right programme at the right time, to support an industry for a thriving future.”
...