One of Ireland's most iconic pubs reopened its doors this week after a long summer without a single customer.
Nestled in the small town of Malin Head in Co. Donegal Farren's Bar has the odd selling point in that it is the most Northerly pub in the country.
It also once took home the coveted title of 'Best Pub in Ireland' at the National Hospitality Awards back in 2018 and made headlines after they welcomed Hollywood star Mark Hamil during the filming of Star Wars on Skellig Michael.
But it has been a long a hard summer for owner Hugh Farren who was forced to make a number of changes to his pub in order to meet Covid guidelines like so many others.
Hugh told the Irish Mirror: "I've got screens and partitions between tables without it we would have been down to 5 tables but now I've got it up to 12."
Speaking of his frustration with the strict rules hammering pubs throughout the pandemic Hugh said:
"We were put off until the 20th of July then we were put off until the middle of August now they're talking about not opening until Christmas so we went ahead with the extra partitions and a food menu so we could open.
"We're all looking to get back. We missed the customers more than anything else so we're glad to get back at it.
Hugh admitted that he was apprehensive before reopening and that there was many other publicans out there facing more pressure and financial strain than he was.
"I'm one of the lucky guys who don't have a big mortgage. My overheads are low whereas other people still have bills coming in.
"If I'm hurting then other people are hurting worse.
"We just want the opportunity to get at it and we're hoping the customers will still be backing us and turning up like they did before we closed. Because we have a lovely clientele and it's a nice wee happy bar."
Thankfully Hugh was able to go ahead with opening on Monday this week which he has said was a success. However he is still apprehensive about the future.
"Everything went well with the changes. We've made 12 tables Covid ready and it worked out so fingers crossed going forward."
