Home of Murphy's and Beamish takes Guinness to its heart

ON ONE level, you could argue that Ireland needs a day dedicated to an alcohol product like Greece needs a day dedicated to dodging debt.

Nevertheless, “Arthur’s Day”, a clever marketing ploy masquerading as some quasi- national holiday, has endured and grown beyond its 2009 birth.

So much so that Cork city, home of Murphy’s, Beamish and general mistrust of anything the other side of the Red Cow junction, has taken Arthur’s Day to heart.

By 5pm yesterday, a queue had formed outside Scotts on Caroline Street, where a makeshift bar was set up.

Staff members were handing out vouchers entitling punters to free pints of Guinness. At one point, workers on their way home queued 10-deep on the footpath.

Afterwards, many took the short stroll to the Old Oak bar for the countdown to 17.59, when Diageo – I mean Arthur’s – Day officially began.

The atmosphere was part after-work drinks, part festival, as an MC counted down the seconds.

With little prompting (they had all seen the television advertisements and knew what to do), the crowd rose to their feet and raised their glasses.

“Three, two, one. To Arthur!” they shouted, accompanied by the mass clinking of glasses and flashing of mobile phone cameras.

Somewhere in the shadows, you could imagine Diageo employees grinning in unison and stroking their PR manuals. The “surprise guest” was American blues musician Seasick Steve, or, as Jenny (21), a student from Carrigaline called him, “something or other Steve”.

Meanwhile, over at the Savoy Theatre on Patrick Street, what seemed a slightly older demographic turned up to hear Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy tinkle on a piano, pint in hand.

He played a summary of hits, including National Express and the crowd-pleasing Songs of Love, better known as the Father Ted theme tune.

"To Arthur . . . . Matthews," Hannon said in an ironic nod to the Father Tedco-creator, followed by a somewhat more melodic version of that cult classic My Lovely Horse.

Organisers estimated that more than 2,000 tickets were sold in advance of the events in Cork city.

Many bars were reporting a good walk-in trade late into the night.