Local pub celebrates 140 years - and the people of Kilkenny are invited!

When a couple opened their grocery, hardware and pub business in Mullinahone in 1885 little could they have known that five generations later the family business would still be going strong.

This year the Brett family celebrate 140 years of Brett’s Pub on The Square in Mullinahone — a place that continues to be at the heart of the community.

The story begins in 1885, when John Brett and Ellen Coady, originally from Poulacapple, opened a grocery, hardware, and pub here on the Square, alongside running a farm. Before this, in 1882, they had opened a grain store in Mullinahone (where Meehan’s shop now stands) and a hardware store on Kickham Street. This set the foundation for a family legacy that would last generations.

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John and Ellen’s son, Patrick Brett, married Kate McCormack from Ballingarry, and together they had four children: Jack, Edgie, Patrick and Ellen (Nellie). Patrick continued the family business, running the pub, grocery, hardware, and farm. Scroll down to read more...

Tragedy struck in 1917, when Patrick passed away just three days before his mother Ellen. At the time, his son Edgie was only 14 and still in school, while Nellie, just six years old, would later go on to work in the grocery and pub. She continued to live there for many years after finishing school.

Jack, the eldest of the four children, helped manage the family business after their father’s death. A talented athlete and committed volunteer, he joined the I.R.A. in December 1917.

On November 21, 1920, he lined out for Tipperary at left full-forward in Croke Park on the day that would become known as Bloody Sunday, when British forces opened fire on the crowd, killing 14 civilians including his teammate Michael Hogan.

From that day, Jack never again returned to ordinary life in Mullinahone. A marked man, suspected by the British military and the R.I.C. of I.R.A. activity, he went on the run, joining Flying Columns first in Dublin and later in West Kilkenny. Click the arrows to read more of this story and to see lots more old photographs of the generations of Bretts!