'My uncle Jack was a famous drinker in the Dublin area '

'My uncle Jack was a famous drinker in the Dublin area '

Harry Browne describes the Dublin Drinking scene and in particular he remembers his Uncle Jack.

Harry Browne

Trinity College Dublin

1940

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Harry Browne

Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Life Story

Dublin

1940's

I never started drinking alcohol, perhaps because there was a record of hard drinking in my family. My uncle Jack was a famous drinker in the Dublin area. Drinking hours were severely tight and being 'found on enclosed premises after hours' was a major offence, with considerable fines attached. If one was a bona - fide traveller however, one could drink after hours with impunity. The definition of a boa - fide traveller was that one had to be more than three miles from ones place of residence and consequently pubs on the outskirts of the city who chose to stay open late were described as bona - fide houses and were very popular. Sometime in the 1940s a dispute arose between the publicans and the drinkers as to the depth of the 'Collars' on the pints of Guinness. The collar is the amount of foam or the 'Head' on the top of the pint. Obviously a deep foam collar meant less liquid nourishment for the dedicated drinkers of Dublin's Fair City. It was decided therefore to boycott the pint of Guinness throughout the city until the dispute could be resolved. This was not good enough for my uncle Jack. A major advertisement in Dublin at the time was for Kingston shirts, and the catchphrase was 'A Kingston Shirt Makes All The Difference'. Jack assembled a number of his cronies outside O'Keefe's pub in Mary street. There were two entrances one in Mary Street and one in Capel Street., the lads lined and one by one went in one door, traversed the length of the premises and out the other shouting in a loud voice 'Kingstons for shirts and O'Keefe's for collars', as one man exited the pub another entered through the other door and repeated the process. The publican very quickly capitulated and the dispute was settled in that pub to every - one's satisfaction. Shortly afterwards the Government introduced a rule that all beer glasses must have a 'Plimsoll' line inscribed on them to indicate the prescribed level to which the glass must be filled with liquid beer and the collar goes on top.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)