IT WAS only a matter of time: the first Irish pub in communist China has opened and is doing booming business.
Down at O'Malley's in Shanghai, Irish staff are selling Guinness at the equivalent of £5 a pint and serving traditional dishes, including Irish stew and smoked salmon on brown bread.
Most Asian countries now have Irish pubs, set up with the help of Guinness Irish Pub Concept, which has assisted publicans and entrepreneurs to open 1,250 Irish bars in 36 countries across the world in the past five years.
O'Malley's opened its doors on December 18th and will have its official opening next Friday at a ceremony attended by the Irish Ambassador to China, Mr Joe Hayes, as well as several Chinese officials and a party of Irish journalists flown in by Guinness for the occasion.
The proprietor of O'Malley's, New Zealander Mr Rob Young, said yesterday that the pub, a two-story building beside the UN and French consulates in the old French quarter of Shanghai, had been packed every evening since it opened its doors, mainly by expatriates. As with Irish pubs throughout Asia, the Guinness supplied is manufactured in Malaysia. It is conveyed from the Shanghai warehouse to O'Malley's by a porter on a bicycle rickshaw who can haul up to 10 barrels through the streets at a time.
Jameson Whiskey is the only Irish whiskey sold wholesale in China, but "I ask friends and contacts who are travelling to bring Bushmills and Black Bush so I usually have three brands of Irish whiskey available " said Mr Young, who is also a partner in Shanghai Sally's pub.
The name "O'Malley's" was suggested to the proprietor at an early stage by an American friend." It turned out to be something of a practical joke," laughed Mr Young. "Only the day after we opened did we find out that that was the name of his dog. However, the Chinese say it has a very nice sound to it.
The manager of the pub, which also provides live Irish music, is Mr Carl Coates, originally from Kildare, and the chef is his wife, Mary O'Flynn from Cork. The staff also includes Ms Sharon Conroy, Dublin, and Ms Hazel Finney, Galway.
Ms Finney, who arrived in Shanghai a month ago, said the patrons were overwhelmingly non-Chinese. "It's just like being in any Irish pub," she said. There are very few Irish people living in Shanghai, "but there are eight lads out here working on a construction site who come in on Saturday nights".
The wooden counters and furniture were made locally, the bric-a-brac came from Ireland and the painting and decorating was carried out by three artists from Ireland sub-contracted by the Irish Pub Company. The pub has gardens and a large sign out front with traditional toucans declaring: "It's a lovely day for a Guinness.
Upstairs there is a library and reading room.
Since it began to expand at a furious pace in the early 1990s, Shanghai has seen the establishment of a large foreign community, and the growing list of non-Chinese bars and entertainment spots includes: Malones American Cafe, the Long Bar, Shanghai Sally's, the Jurassic Pub, Judy's Place and New York, New York.
The instant success of O'Malleys points the way to the spread of Irish theme pubs in other big Chinese cities. There are already thriving Irish bars in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul and even Hanoi, where there is a pub called the "Emerald Isle". Delaney's Pub in Hong Kong is one of the city's most popular bars, attracting a mix of expatriate and Chinese customers.
The Irish Pub concept is a world-wide success, with Guinness providing its products and a wide range of expertise, though no direct financial subsidies. Over a million pints of Guinness beers are consumed in the new generation of Irish pubs each week, according to Guinness Irish Pubs Concept. Guinness exports have doubled since 1992.
"We're now opening a pub a day somewhere in the world," Mr Stephen Lombard, head of retail development for Guinness, told the Asian Wall Street Journal recently.
The Irish Pub Company in Dublin is a design and construction company which can build and deliver a finished pub, complete with snugs and mosaic floors, in about 12 weeks. There are five distinct concepts, the country cottage pub, the traditional pub shop, the Victorian Dublin pub, the Gaelic pub and the Irish brewery pub. O'Malley's is a mixture of all of these designs.