Alex Fegan is the director of new documentary, The Irish Pub, which focuses on Ireland's unique relationship with the local pub, the characters that inhabit it and the stories that have grown out from them.

 

How did the film initially come about?

"I had an idea of trying to tell a story about Ireland without it being about Ireland. I was trying to find some vehicle and the pub seemed like the right one. There's so many aspects of Irish culture that are linked to it, whether it's music, politics or storytelling. The second was, the Irish pub is so unique to Ireland and it's a fascinating place. Germans are known for their cars and engineering, English people do pomp and ceremony and we have this place where sport and politics and music and community intertwine."

 

What made you choose the pubs you did for the documentary?

"The most important point I wanted the pubs to have was to be owned by at least three generations of a family and that they had an aesthetic quality. I wasn't going to film a modern or a chain pub, that's not why I wanted. Pubs that don't have televisions blaring in every corner, pubs where the name over the door is the name behind the bar. If someone owns twenty chain pubs, he's not going to know the social history of the area. Whereas you talk to any of the publicans in the documentary, they know the people. They know the stories."

 

Do you think Irish people tie their culture to drink and, by extension, the pub?

"The French have their wine, Germans have their beer festivals. Alcohol was never a factor in the process of making this documentary.. It's about conversation. You go to Clancy's Pub and you see a 14 year old playing playdough next to an 80-year old banjo. Nobody's thinking, they're getting drunk here. It's a cultural hub. Whatever way it evolved, it evolved well here in Ireland. It's all about that community. Especially in small towns. You might not see it in Dublin, where pubs are more busy and people are more centralised. In the countryside, that's where the farmers meet and it's not necessarily about drinking. I understand that there is a stereotype that assumes everything's linked with alcohol. If anything, I hope this film will show that it's not the whole story. There's another side to us."

 

Have you screened it for the publicans featured yet?

"No! (laughs) We've got our premiere tonight so we'll see what they make of it and what everybody else thinks too!"