68. Central Bar

Well over 100 years old, the Central Bar presents a number of arresting features, most notably the four huge wooden barrels mounted behind the counter. At one time these were filled with spirits drawn by horse and dray from Enniskillen and hand-pumped from the street into the barrels.

You can still chat to some of the older frequenters of the Central who can remember this process.
Almost equally eye-catching is the wooden counter itself, almost 25 feet in length and all in one single piece.

Care has been taken to preserve the traditional snugs, the paneled and tongue and groove walls and ceilings, the wooden cornice, patterned glass, and flagged floor; even the lounge at the back, once the old kitchen, remains true to the style of an Irish parlour pub in its furniture and fittings.

You may be tempted to ask for a sample from one of the gallery of very old bottles or crockery jars that line the original wood shelves behind the counter. The overall sense of a bar of an earlier age is reinforced by a display of dated advertisements for such products as Murray’s Irish Roll Tobacco and Shamrock Whiskey.

Old accounts and records show that a month’s takings in 1893 reached the grand total of £45 No doubt these figures today wouldn’t amuse the present licensee, the well-known and popular Brian Reihill, who was born and raised on these premises.

Oddly enough, there is a Burns Night, complete with haggis supper, in January each year in this most traditional Irish pub.

I’m almost sure the barmaid had a faint Scottish burr, though..