In all walks of life, individuals make a difference and, in small countries, some individuals can make a big difference. One of those people in Ireland was Hugh O’Regan who sadly passed away – tragically, far too young – last week.
Visionaries can change businesses – and the pub business is no different. Pioneers are people who have the courage to dream and who have the bravery to follow through on those ideas. These types of people are few and far between; you recognise them when you see them.
O’Regan saw a Dublin in the late 1980s, battered, closed and without much nightlife of any real sort. Like many of this generation, he had travelled, he had seen what other cities offer their own people as
well as tourists, and O’Regan – together with other young publicans, such as Jay Bourke – set about changing the face of Dublin’s pubs and clubs.
It is important to contrast the Dublin we now take for granted with the Dublin of 1990.
In 1990, I was working at the Central Bank and entertaining a German guest who looked out from the elevated vantage point of the Central Bank at Temple Bar and the city quays and mused about the war we
fought with Britain and wondered why had the British bombed the city so devastatingly? I told her the Brits didn’t do this. We had allowed our capital city to fall into such a state. We did it to ourselves.
In 1990, the city quays, when looked on from a height, were like an ugly set of teeth smashed and broken, huge gaps between buildings, some buildings kept upright by unsightly iron girders which elbowed
apart other tottering, crumbling edifices that seemed to lean on each other like drunks.
This image was immortalised, for me at least, by a Frank McDonald article in the Irish Times in 1991, which showed a panorama of the city quays under the title ‘City of Culture, how are you?’.
A few years later, O’Regan, still in his early 30s, would build the Morrison Hotel on the site of an abandoned printworks on Ormond Quay. He saw the potential of these sites, not for ‘slap-’em-up’
development, but to build real, living businesses on them as had originally been intended.
But before that, he had figured out that businesses clustered together and he set about creating what we now know to be the tourist hub that is Temple Bar. He figured that if you build and create enough good
places for people to hook up, people will come. This seems straightforward now, but back then, large parts of the city, which are today thriving, were empty.
Hugh O’Regan could be seen in the early 1990s scouring the broken-down buildings for places to transform into spots where people would socialise, chat, drink coffee or beer and have a laugh.
I know this because I saw him. In the early 1990s I was one of the very few people living on Parliament Street. At night back then, that part of the city was an empty place. Hardly anyone lived there and
precious few lived anywhere in Temple Bar.
Parliament Street was a ghost street, full of falling-down buildings and two down-at-heel pubs. It served as a rat-run for CIE buses and little else. The City Hall was unlit and uncelebrated, hardly noted in
the traffic.
Directly opposite my flat stood Read’s cutlers, an exotic place, on its last legs, that sold all sorts of cutlery from knives to swords. Apart from that and one small family-run newsagents down by the
Liffey, there was nothing there.
This is where O’Regan gambled that he could build a continental-style pub, called the Thomas Read – and he soon also built the stylish Oak pub beside it. Both places were an instant success, attracting people
to a part of the city which had been bleak for many years.
Dublin of the 1990s was changing. The baby boom of the 1970s, which peaked in 1979, was coming of age and these people were going out.
This population bulge pushed up the demographic pressure in the city. And obviously, as we entered the 1990s and the economy began to grow, emigration, which had robbed Ireland of a generation in the 1980s,
began to decline. Instead of going out in New York, these young Dubliners went out in Dublin. Tax breaks for developing run-down parts of the city, together with lower interest rates in the mid-1990s,
encouraged the building of new places to meet this new demand. And although pub licences were not yet liberalised, publicans like O’Regan began to find ways around the regulations, which had strangled the
business for years.
In short, Hugh O’Regan did something odd in Dublin: he was a publican who put his customers first. I am not saying others didn’t, but he was one of the pioneers. He built businesses, employed people and, with
the notion of clustering, he went a long way to making Temple Bar an eating and drinking destination.
Many might complain about the direction Temple Bar ultimately took, but without people like Hugh O’Regan, it would never even have started. I know that all sorts of people such as civil servants and public officials will try to take credit for the vision thing, but they know deep down that the vision was driven by an ambitious publican. O’Regan’s bar accepted everyone – gay, straight, young, old, immigrant and local – and this added enormously to the nightlife of the city.
Yesterday, I decided to go for a drink in one of those O’Regan bars, which had made the Dame Street/Georges Street area so vibrant when I was younger. I went to one, admittedly in the late afternoon, and – guess what? – it was closed. It didn’t open till the evening because it was run by receivers, and receivers can’t run bars. O’Regan was trying to change the drinking habits of the city, suggesting that we could go into pubs in the afternoon and not get stocious.
These places are now run by people who have no idea how to run bars and, tragically, the person who opened them in the first place is dead. I know Hugh O’Regan latterly borrowed hugely and overstretched
himself. However, if we vilify those who took risks and created things and side with the dullards who did nothing more than lend other people’s money to those who dared to dream, we will be a poorer place
for it.
David McWilliams’s new book The Good Room is out now
Back in the 90’s Thomas Read was my favorite spot on a friday evening. The music downstairs was great.
I remember Dublin in the 1980s, the quays down by Temple Bar in particular stand out for some reason. It looked so run down and even today even though there have been general improvements one wonders why Georgian houses and Viking settlements were allowed fall into disrepair or be concreted over as in the case of the latter. Any other city in Europe would have given their right arm for such historical gems, for some reason in this country we have a shocking disregard for the past while simultaneously holding onto buildings which offer nothing but office space. Could it… Read more »
HALF THE CHQ BUILDING IN THE DOCKS IS EMPTY. A FEW SANDWICH BARS HOOVER UP WHAT TRADE THERE IS. EVEN THE NEARBY SPAR SHUT. WHO SAID THE FSC WAS FULL OF BRASS PLATE OPERATIONS ? IF IT WASN’T FOR THE O2, THE PLACE WOULD BE TOTALLY LIFELESS. LOTS OF CAPACITY, NO ONE TO BUY/RENT THEM. WITH NET EMIGRATION OF 40,000 PER ANNUM, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ?
The recession seems to be noteworthy for the talk around stories rather than getting to the core of what actually takes place. Regrettably the banks seem to be cutting little slack, while the lack of government involvement when it comes to mediation and resolution seems astonishing given the banks are bailed out institutions.
What I like about the article is the example of how the power of one individual can make a difference. We need a hall of fame on this site for the Irish and those who live here are making a difference over the last 50 years. I just have few rules 1) Is not a politician/ developer/ banker 2) Is not in the entertainment business 2) Has changed the perception of what it is to be Irish in the late 20th early 21st Century I wonder if anyone can come up with more. Maybe there is another way of approaching… Read more »
Reading Dan O’Brien in da IT.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1130/1224327300444.html
The telling paragraph is at the end…”The very unusual incentive structures facing Irish voters and elected representatives are the reason for the bias towards inaction in the political system. If these structures were made more similar to those of other countries there is every reason to believe that the quality of governance would improve.”
Basically, our constitution is rigged so we dare not dream.
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It is a great pity to hear about the death of Hugh O’Regan. However, important though he was, I feel it would be incorrect to solely eulogise his contribution to Temple Bar and and the riverbank as the over-riding factor in the redevelopment of the area. I doubt he himself would have seen it this way as well. Speaking from an architectural and planning point of view the successful reinvigoration of Temple Bar had a lot of thought and work, aside from the efforts of Hugh and his like. Prior to the big work starting it had its own tailored… Read more »
David we may have moved forward since the 90s but in the last 4/5 years we are moving backwards at a very fast pace.
With the budget out this week I lay odds that the people who said they can’t take any more pain are about to get dumped on again .
Breaking point is apon us this week
People like Hugh O’Regan, and other honest Entrepreneurs, at the moment are the easy scapegoats, and are demonised by a lot of people who doesn’t have a clue what it takes to risk their own capital, health, and family life. And that practically are paid in advance inflated salaries and conditions, to work with the “book of rules and conditions” in one hand, and silly excuses in the other. The latter gets all the upsides and none of the downsides, while the former apart of risking a lot, are able to generate employment and wealth, that benefits the community. .… Read more »
The IT’s Dan O’Brien writes under the headline — “Coalition in troika’s icy grip on budget framework” Since the first emergency budgetary measures were introduced in August 2008, Irish citizens have swallowed a bigger dose of austerity than any developed economy (more even than the people of Greece), according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). On top of the €24 billion in cuts and new taxes that have been introduced since the crisis began, and the coming €3.5 billion slated for 2013 — the details of which will be unveiled on Wednesday — a €3.1 billion package… Read more »
Vision I enjoyed this article and for me it was all about Vision and the Future and Change . This great man was unique and a great Leader .I salut him too . What happened that he has lost his life lies at the foot of an unscrupulous greedy Banker in Dublin.Faceless and Malicious and Immoral worse than Cromwell . Yet the laws allow the Banker to continue his plunder and who will be NEXT ? I remember Brian O’Donnell ( Solicitor who is currently being decimated by the bank ) when he was attending The Jesuits in Limerick .He… Read more »
Temple Bar area in the *late* eighties rocked.
U2 used it to rehearse.
The Project Arts center kicked ass.
Mid-night at the Olympia spat in eye of closing hours.
Bad Bobs brilliant spit on floor music venue.
Temple Bar fell apart soon after.
It turned into a kip after 1992.
Hi All,
I’d love to get constructive feedback on the attached article and documents. I’m no legal expert – So is it as interesting as it looks?
http://awakenlongford.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/breaking-news-the-people-fight-back/
http://www.oneworldchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Household-Charge-Notice-to-Phil-Hogan-2711121.pdf
Hi, “These places are now run by people who have no idea how to run bars”. We know that already. Look what happened to the Dail, banks, regulators office, building societies when also ran by bookeepers/aaccountants! Once again the Germans have said “Nein” to a banking deal for Ireland. People are dying and no one gives a shit. We Irish are nothing but a despicable race of unmitigated scum, the last great European peasant race. One wonders if Mr O’Regan had his time over would he put so much energy into projects in Ireland? The wealth creators are dying David… Read more »
Very good read. I’ve never heard of the man but he sounds like a good one.
Please look at the 2 minutes video at the end of the comment!!! . PROPERTY TAX FOR FAMILLY HOMES IS IMMORAL AND UNJUST (a different matter is a holiday home, or an investment property for rent), so don’t matter if it is backed by law , because the principle of the injustice remains. . It will be the last straw that will brake the camel’s back, and will make the Irish economy implode completely, because nobody will be expending a penny extra in the shops. And also will have the catastrophic effect, of stopping any intention from home owners, to… Read more »
I can remember a time in the late 1980s when Dublin city was rife with slot machine outlets.
THIS CRISIS WONT END UNTIL CIVIL SOCIETY ENDS IT (Mannix Flynn in Joes Duffy’s program today, where he was defending Hugh O’Regan and other employers like him, against the vulture bankers and politicians) . He said that this coming Budget, is not going to be the last cruel one, but one of many. Basically he is saying, and we know it well!!!, that this Government and most of the Political Establishment, is again lying to us, and that we ought to CHANGE THE SYSTEM. . So as the PROPERTY TAX is going to be the backbone of tomorrow’s Budget, and… Read more »
I was Paye for 25 years abd self employed for years. If i known what I know now about owning businesses in Ireland I never would have. The State and its representatives have no time for the self employed and see them as a cash cow to be milked and then discarded. I opened one of my restaurants in 2007. We employed 15 in that one alone. Within six weeks of opening we had a health inspection, a vat inspection and one from NERA (the state watchdog on emplyees rights.) When we were looking for planning we could get nobody.… Read more »
So there is a great need for a person with the wherewithal and balls put down on plain paper the real figures, who gets what and when. Let it go viral. No other Way. But until someone like DMW puts a simple spreadsheet into one of the Daily Broadsheets, and stares down the inevitable hysterical backlash from the Politicians, Teachers, Nurses, Guards, Middle Civil Servants, Banks, the entire Educational Establishment, there will be no change. All of these people have good arguments, the one they are missing is “to Pay them in the manner to which that have become accustomed,… Read more »
As Ghandi was brought into the discussion above, and rightly so, I wonder is the “dream” theme, the dream of a caste? Did the Tiger era beget a caste system? Is this how the iconic Caste system was created – by a cultural and economic collapse. Is Ireland a land of publicans? Is this why the very concept of pursuing a better situation is rejected? To remain in a caste? Remember the Empire then took power over 500 million Indian’s with only 25,000 (private) British East Indie Company soldiers. Is this how a tiny group seize power? The Raj was… Read more »
Tomorrow is budget day.
If you want to measure the level of incompetence, ineptitude and outright deceit rampant in the Irish public dicsussion concerning economics, just take note of the number of times the term GDP is used.
As Constantin and Colm McCarthy both have mentioned on numerous occassions, GDP in Ireland is highly misleading.
You need to measure against GNP to get a more accurate assessment of financial and economic performance.
I took risks in my business & lost big time.I ended up homeless & in a mental hospital.However I still have new ideas but no credibilty in business terms.I want to start again even though it harder now.Its good to see a suggestion by you David not to vilify us the people that took risks.It gives me new confidence & hope that maybe just maybe we will be successful again.
Switzerland’s “problem” !!!!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-03/swiss-capital-controls-escalate-credit-suisse-sets-negative-chf-deposit-rates
Surrounded by Euro currency countries, Switzerland has a massive problem trying to prevent money flowing into it’s banks.
Thankfully we have the internet, so we can find out these things for ourselves these days.
A Very Sad truth, at 50+, I have been listening and reading this sort of stuff through 3 cycles of National Collapse. Perhaps this time I think with the aid of the internet it could be different, BUT I have a deep and horrible feeling that if given a choice today we would not set up as a small state on the periphery of Europe with 4 million souls. The deep question is are we a viable entity, were we ever a viable entity ? And before Bonbon rushes in to decry me as a West Brit Git, I am… Read more »
I agee wildata. We now have a government and permanent government of inept individuals who run the State soley for themselves and their own families and friends. (phil hogan pays his PA whose previous job was as a bookies clerk 70,000 a year) They protect the farming sector (no rates on farms)and large business and the public service no budget impact at all. They suck the income from the self employed and paye workers. They only pay social welfare to keep the unemployed from taken to the steets. We are now working for our government and its agencies when it… Read more »
This Government is as bad as the colonial masters of the past. Labour is gone with the Greens. And Fine Gaels are side by side with Fianna Fail. FAMILLY HOMES DON’T GENERATE INCOME, SO THE PROPERTY TAX IS THE MOST UNFAIR AND CRIMINAL TAX. People in Ireland should organise soon a protest in every town and city, at the same time and date, and show this corrupt Government to reverse it or to get out!!! . Yesterday I mentioned the honesty of Roisin Shortall by resigning from this corrupt Government, and for not taking the Severance Payment she was entitle… Read more »
Certainly not begrudging you a day time scoop in the City Cenre David,but there are few and far around us that can afford the bus fare into the City Centre never mind an overpriced scoop.Recession arrives and guess what, increased public transport fares.Ya see the minister and his mates figure that dwindling passenger numbers can be offset by increasing fares.No thought to improving the service or attracting customers by enhanced facilities.Nah! sure aren’t we a momopoly.Sure why would we need to do anything different.It’s worked for years So you get to the city centre on foot instead and guess what.A… Read more »