Cleveland Comhrá: Rauirí Bannon

By Bob Carney

Mary and I lead very active lives, we both work full-time, and take care of our wolfhounds and little Doolin. I write for this publication and lead the Speak Irish Cleveland class, along with all the other things we manage to get involved in. Most days, dinner is an afterthought.

Thankfully for us, living in Strongsville, we have a variety of restaurants close by to choose from, where we can grab a quick, decent meal. We were delighted when Hooley Pub & Kitchen opened up in Southpark Mall. The food is mostly pub style, but with an Irish twist, and for us, a mere three or four minutes away.

On one visit, I met floor manager Rauirí Bannon. He is a regular reader of iIrish, and we had an enjoyable conversation that day. Weagreed to meet up later.

Originally from Monastervin, Co Kildare, also known as the Venice of Ireland, Rauirí has been living in the U.S. for about five years now. He and his family moved here to be closer to his wife’s family after their child was born.

His wife is from Medina, but she had worked and lived in Dublin, where the two of them met. We thought it might be fun to compare life here to that of life in Ireland.

Was the move to America difficult for you?

Not at all. I moved to Dublin when I was eighteen or so. I worked in the pubs there for about six years and then managed a pub in Galway for awhile and then moved back to Dublin and managed a pub there.

We have four weeks vacation a year in Ireland and I was able to travel quite a bit, I’ve probably visited more of America than most Americans. I was also able to visit Australia once.

What do you find to be the biggest difference between Ireland and here?

The food! I miss the food. Americans think the food in Ireland isn’t that great. I mean here everything is cheese, cheese and more cheese. Give me real sausages and black pudding and I’m a happy man!

Bars are different here too. Over there you’re in a pub that’s been there since the 1700s. I like old dark paneled bars. Maybe it’s because we’re here in Strongsville, but back home the bars are busy till close. Here things wind down earlier.

You drive on the wrong side of the road! And your stop signs drive me bananas! To me roundabouts make so much more sense, but here when you do have one, you’re still on the wrong side of the road!

But, I have travelled here a lot so I might be getting used to it. Now when I go back I have to be careful I don’t drive on the wrong side!

I guess the other thing I miss is the vacation time. Back there, I had six weeks a year, compared to a week or two here. I used to take a month off, usually in January when the bars are slower and travel, mostly in America.

But, I like the fact that when you work hard here, you get ahead. That makes up for the vacation time. The cost of living is higher in Ireland. You spend a lot more on basics than you do here.

It’s hard to make a good wage and get ahead. You don’t have as much to spend.

Speaking about disposable income, are the customers better here or there?

Here! It might be because I’m Irish and people can identify my accent, but more people talk to me here. They’re a lot friendlier here, much more polite.

You think so?

Absolutely, in Ireland there are a lot more arguments in the pub, a lot more! In Dublin, on O’Connell Street, there are a lot of fast food joints.

At two or three o’clock in the morning there will be all kinds of fights! In the pubs we were breaking up fights all the time. People here, for the most part are out to enjoy themselves.

Although, the worst that happens in a fight in Ireland is you might get a punch in the face. Here the fellow might go out to his car and come back with a gun.

I think here, the pubs center around food. In Ireland there is no food, maybe a bag of crisps, but the pubs are for drinking.

How did you get involved with Hooley Pub & Kitchen?

I applied when I first came here five years ago and then I tried again on-line and they brought me on about a year and a half ago. I only applied for barman, but after I met Richie, he said I’d be grand as a manager. I only found out about this location when I was here doing a bit of shopping.

Is it easier to be a manager here or in Dublin?

I’ve been a bar manager since I was nineteen, working with people is the same everywhere. I do have to watch my language here, back home you can say pretty much anything and no one takes offense because we’re all the same in the pub business. Here it’s a little different.

Once the staff gets to know me, like some of the people I’ve worked with since I started, they know that’s just me. I’m more like “Don’t ****** do that!” than “Please don’t do that.”

And don’t even think about using the “C” word! I still do it but then I have to go and say “I didn’t mean it like that.” So I tippy-toe around the new people.

How long has Hooley Pub & Kitchen been at Southpark?

A year and a half now, they had five locations, but closed two of them due to location. We have a great deal of business because of the mall, people shopping will stop and give us a try and they make us the reason to come back.

I think they’re looking for future locations better suited to open other places. It’s a great place to get a bite to eat or meet up with friends to watch a game or just hang out and socialize. We have live entertainment a few times a month, some of the great Irish performers that have made Cleveland their home.

It’s funny, before I started here I only knew one other Irish lad, James over at P.J.’s, I love their Irish breakfast, now I’m meeting many others from Ireland that live here.

I have to ask about the Irish Language, do you remember much of it?

Sadly no. When I moved to Dublin, what little I had, I forgot. In Galway I picked a lot of it back up, but then the move back to Dublin and then here, I’ve forgotten most of it. It is a bit of a shame, especially as I get older and realise how much the language is part of our identity as a people.

If I was able to write all of the laughter and side comments that were made during our chat, this column would easily be five or six times as long. Rauirí is an interesting man with an abundance of charm and good natured humor.

He makes his customers feel like friends and takes the time to treat them as such. This is a good place for a meal and a pint, but a better place because of folks like Rauirí.

To read more of Bob’s Cleveland Comhrá columns, click HERE