New owners for Durty Nelly’s

ONE of the Clare’s oldest landmark pubs, Durty Nelly’s in Bunratty, which was once valued at €12.5m, has been taken over by Dubliners Martin Scully and Mary McCoy.

In the early part of 2008 it was sold to an Ennis-based consortium, Crystal Partners, of whom businessmen Seánie Lyne and Noel Connellan were central figures. While the purchase price wasn’t revealed at that time, it was understood to be between €12.5 and €13m. It was one of the largest ever prices paid for a pub outside of Dublin.

Since the most recent sale, Mr Scully said the amount paid by himself and Ms McCoy was way below the price paid in 2008.

Attempts to contact Mr Scully and Ms McCoy this week proved unsuccessful. Both are directors of companies such as Oyster Technologies Limited and Shanaway Property Development Ltd.

Assistant manager of Durty Nelly’s, Diarmuid Lynch said there aren’t any major changes planned for the near future. “There’s just a few alterations inside, changing the toilets and things like that but no major alterations, just a few internal improvements.”

He said staff are pleased the pub has been taken over after a spell being run by a major bank. He said he has spoken to Mr Scully, who he described as “a very nice man”.

The last few years have been very difficult for pubs for a variety of reasons but Mr Lynch said Durty Nelly’s has done reasonably well of late.

“The last couple of months are normally our quiet time of the year but it has been very busy. During the week, there are a lot of tourists but at the weekends it’s Irish people. The airport is picking up a little bit. Last night there were two banquets in the castle and we usually get a few from that.”