Delight as only pub in Laois village prepares to reopen

The reopening of the only pub in Rosenallis is being viewed as a major milestone in the rejuvenation of the village on the foothills of the Slieve Bloom Mountains. 

The former Poole’s Tavern, like many rural pubs in Ireland, failed to reopen after the Covid 19 lockdown was introduced forcing it to shut in March of 2020. 

The loss of the pub was a major blow to the village which has a community centre but no shop or pub for socialising. 

Now Wayne Walsh and Mark Dunne have ambitious plans for the pub which they bought back in March. 

Wayne’s wife Ruth said the building, which has an adjoining house with a beauty salon on one side and a barn at the other end, was in a bad state when it was bought.  “It made the village look very bad because it is such a big building in the middle of the village,” she said. “The Tidy Towns have come in and helped clean it up,” Ruth explained. 

She said much of the building was stripped back to bare walls but there are big plans for the building. A new beer garden has been added and local woman Tara Poole has drawn a mural of St Brigid with Rosenallis in the background. 

Ruth said Rosenallis has a big catchment and while they would be a close community, with an active GAA, soccer and Gun Club, they have nowhere in the village to socialise. If there are draws or other annual club events, they have to go outside the parish for a venue, she said.   

“There’s people there that don’t see other people from one end of the week to the other and I think it would be a great amenity for local people to meet up,” she said.

Ruth said the eldest of her five children has yet to socialise in the village. “The oldest is 24 and they never remember meeting their friends in Rosenallis for a drink. They have always had to travel out,” she explained.

She said match celebrations or other outings generally take place in Clonaslee or Mountmellick.   

Linda Shaw of Rosenallis Tidy Towns said Rosenallis “is undergoing a rebirth and the pub is very much part of that”. 

The Tidy Towns, who won a Best Streetscape Award at the Community and Voluntary Awards earlier this month, helped clean up the front of the building when the pub work began. 

“The pub and the fantastic job the guys are doing on the pub is just going to mean so much,” said Linda. She described the work as “invaluable” from a streetscape perspective. “From the community side, to have a pub in the village is just priceless,” she said. 

Linda said it provides a hub for people to meet and gives people a reason to stop. She praised the owners for carrying out such extensive work and stripping the building back to its old stonework. “It’s absolutely fantastic. Hats off to the guys, they are doing a superb job…they didn’t have to go to the expense of stripping back all the old stone and we feel that is something unique to the village,” said Linda. 

“The village, I feel, is starting to rejuvenate itself. Even in the last year or two we have had some young families moving into it,” said Linda.  She said “the place is coming back to life”. 

Fr Tom Walsh will officially open the pub which is now called the Village Tap this Friday, December 5 at 6pm when sandwiches and light refreshments will be available before The Dooley Brothers perform in the pub at 10pm.  But that is just the start for the building and the local community.  

Beautician Faith Bennett is planning to open her beauty salon beside the pub on Saturday, December 6 and work is continuing on the barn and house. Ruth said the barn has been stripped back to bare stone and there are plans to open in a cafe in the building next year. 

Meanwhile, Ruth said there will be employment generated and the pub will be looking to hire a manager in the new year as Wayne has a building company to run and Mark has his own plumbing business.