An Tain - new Manager

By Zara Hill

Located in the Market Square, the popular traditional music hotspot “An Táin” - recently welcomed its new manager, Tom Costello. Tom from Ardcarne in Creagh is well known in GAA circles and is also heavily involved with drama, both in Moore/Clonfad Drama Society and in Relays. Having previously worked in the pub scene in Donegal, Tom is delighted with the opportunity to work in An Táin. ‘’I’m really excited about my new role. Although I’m still finding my feet, I’m relishing the challenge to build on An Táin’s fantastic reputation.’’ 

The pub opened in 1998 and since then has developed a solid name for its unique character and warm, friendly atmosphere. ‘’People can enjoy a drink, meet a friend, host a party upstairs or enjoy one of the many regular traditional music sessions during the week.’ added the local stage man. A proud supporter of local talent, Tom hopes to keep the traditional music scene alive in the pub with trad evenings and weekend sessions filling up his calendar for the summer. Speaking of the traditional scene, Tom remarked; ‘’it embraces people from all age groups and walks of life and attracts patrons from the town and surrounding areas’’.

An Táin employs twelve local people, between full and part-time staff and is well known for catering all major sporting events, boasting seven large television screens together with an exemplary surround sound system. ‘’Traditional music and good craic have long been synonymous with the pub’’, explained the new manager who hopes this will continue long into the future. ‘’We have regular slots on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and we welcome and encourage anybody who has a song to sing, yarn to tell or a tune to play to come in and join us.  We are fortunate to have the internationally renowned fiddle player Gerry Harrington here to perform with our regular group every Wednesday night, while some of the local musicians will join Bobby Kilkenny and Frank Hession on the first Thursday of every month commencing on June 4 for a cracking trad session.’’

New band on the block – ‘’Transessiun’’ – made up of five highly talented fifth year students from Garbally College will also be playing in the bar every Friday night. There is a lot for customers to look forward to including live music on Saturday nights, the launch of the ‘’An Táin Cocktail Menu’’ over the June Bank Holiday Weekend and the renaming of the upstairs bar, which is to be decided through a Facebook competition in early June with a number of great prizes up for grabs. Tom welcomes the opportunity to work with community groups or organisations that wish to organise fund raising events. The pub in conjunction with the GAA club and Galway East Life Support is launching ‘’An Táin’s Got Talent’’ in June with a prize fund of €1,000. For more information on An Táin’s new party package, upcoming events and more follow ‘’An Táin Bar’’ on Facebook.

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