Iconic Irish Pub Fagans Reopens After Fire, Community Rallies

Moynalvey, County Meath – An iconic 150-year-aged Irish pub, Fagans – affectionately known as Scut Fagans – has reopened its doors this week, albeit in a temporary location. The beloved establishment was severely damaged by a fire on New Year’s Eve, leaving only the building’s four walls standing.

A History Steeped in Irish Culture

Fagans pub holds a special place in Irish cultural history. It gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as a filming location for Hall’s Pictorial Weekly, serving as the backdrop for scenes set in the fictional village of Ballymagash Meath Chronicle. The pub has also appeared on television programs such as Ireland’s Eye and, more recently, served as a location for the Oscar-nominated Irish language film, An Cailín Ciúin RTÉ.

The Fire and Its Aftermath

Proprietor John Reilly received a call around 5:00 AM on New Year’s Eve, alerting him to the blaze. Upon arrival, he found five or six fire brigades battling the flames News USA Today. “Initially, I thought it might be contained. Then, it just went up,” he said. Emergency services worked throughout the day to control the fire, which smoldered for an extended period. Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident.

A Temporary Home and a Community Hub

The pub is a vital community hub, serving residents of Moynalvey, Summerhill, Trim, and surrounding areas. “It was a huge shock. We are all upset and devastated. There are a lot of memories here, people have a lot of memories from the locality,” Reilly stated RTÉ.

Within weeks of the fire, the Reillys devised a plan to rebuild, both in the short and long term. They converted a shed adjacent to the original pub, previously used for storage, into a temporary bar RTÉ. This week, they resumed serving customers, just in time for events like Cheltenham and St. Patrick’s Day.

Rebuilding for the Future

The family estimates it will take at least a year, and likely longer, to rebuild the pub to its former glory. Beth-Ann Reilly, who runs the pub with her brother John, stated, “There is no time scale. The big plan is to recreate what we had as close as we can to that” RTÉ. They intend to replicate the original build visually.

Pat Linnane, a patron of Fagans for approximately 30 years, described the pub as “an iconic pub, absolutely iconic” and a central hub for the local community RTÉ. Barry McGann, a resident of Moynalvey, echoed this sentiment, stating that Fagans was “the hub of the community” and its loss left a “big vacuum” RTÉ.

At this stage, the cause of the fire remains undetermined, and is considered accidental RTÉ.