Padraic Mac Coitir ✒ There's parts of this city I've been meaning to get to and one such place is Sailortown. 

I've known people who were born and bred there and they all said it was a great place to grow up. I've also read articles and seen the odd documentary about it and like many old parts of the city it's sad to see what has happened.

Earlier today a friend and I dandered around Sailortown and as he's older than me he remembered the streets, pubs and shops. He worked in the docks too so would have walked through the many streets and drank in some of the local pubs now and again. 

At one time there was a population of 5,000 and this surprised me because I didn't realise it was that big. Like other areas close to the city centre the great and the good decided to move people out and they almost destroyed communities as they demolished homes and replaced them with offices, many of which are monstrosities. Of course some families were lucky to move into the small number of new houses which were built. 

As we walked around Pilot Street we saw a rundown building that used to be the Rotterdam Bar and just behind it on Princes Dock Street is another such building which was Pat's Bar. I thought at one time I may have been in them but I now know I wasn't (unless some hallions led me astray and got me drunk!). These were very well known pubs and many singers and bands played in them. I know life moves on but it's sad to see. 

Just up the street from Pat's Bar is St Joseph's catholic church. Well, it's no longer a consecrated church because when we spoke to a few people they told us that a bishop from the diocese wanted it knocked down and he declared it de-consecrated a number of years ago. He claimed it was because fewer people were using it but even the most devout catholic would see it was for money. Many locals were incensed and they set up a committee to protect the church and it's now a listed building. When it was built in the 19th century the father of Patrick and Willie Pearse built the altar - which that bishop took and has stored somewhere else. Although I'll not be at any church services should it be consecrated I wish the people good luck. 

Back in Pilot St we stopped outside the Dockers club - yes we know it's closed - and read the captions below the many photos on the wall. Being a docker was very hard work and what was despicable was the treatment of the workers. Casual labour was the order of the day and it took James Connolly and Jim Larkin to organise the workers and set up a union-the ITGWU otherwise known as One Big Union (OBU). It was very difficult at first and many strikes were called in the docks, the most famous being 1911. The scourge of the unions weren't only the bosses but the scabs. We have seen strikes in more recent times and scabs continue to break the picket lines.

I would encourage people to join a union because we all know things are going to get tough and many people will be in dispute with their bosses. Being in a union is no guarantee of keeping a job but at least it's better to be in one instead of trying to fight on your own. 

So that's another part of Béal Feirste I've dandered around. So my next port of call will be ... 


Padraic Mac Coitir is a former republican
prisoner and current political activist.

Sailortown

Padraic Mac Coitir ✒ There's parts of this city I've been meaning to get to and one such place is Sailortown. 

I've known people who were born and bred there and they all said it was a great place to grow up. I've also read articles and seen the odd documentary about it and like many old parts of the city it's sad to see what has happened.

Earlier today a friend and I dandered around Sailortown and as he's older than me he remembered the streets, pubs and shops. He worked in the docks too so would have walked through the many streets and drank in some of the local pubs now and again. 

At one time there was a population of 5,000 and this surprised me because I didn't realise it was that big. Like other areas close to the city centre the great and the good decided to move people out and they almost destroyed communities as they demolished homes and replaced them with offices, many of which are monstrosities. Of course some families were lucky to move into the small number of new houses which were built. 

As we walked around Pilot Street we saw a rundown building that used to be the Rotterdam Bar and just behind it on Princes Dock Street is another such building which was Pat's Bar. I thought at one time I may have been in them but I now know I wasn't (unless some hallions led me astray and got me drunk!). These were very well known pubs and many singers and bands played in them. I know life moves on but it's sad to see. 

Just up the street from Pat's Bar is St Joseph's catholic church. Well, it's no longer a consecrated church because when we spoke to a few people they told us that a bishop from the diocese wanted it knocked down and he declared it de-consecrated a number of years ago. He claimed it was because fewer people were using it but even the most devout catholic would see it was for money. Many locals were incensed and they set up a committee to protect the church and it's now a listed building. When it was built in the 19th century the father of Patrick and Willie Pearse built the altar - which that bishop took and has stored somewhere else. Although I'll not be at any church services should it be consecrated I wish the people good luck. 

Back in Pilot St we stopped outside the Dockers club - yes we know it's closed - and read the captions below the many photos on the wall. Being a docker was very hard work and what was despicable was the treatment of the workers. Casual labour was the order of the day and it took James Connolly and Jim Larkin to organise the workers and set up a union-the ITGWU otherwise known as One Big Union (OBU). It was very difficult at first and many strikes were called in the docks, the most famous being 1911. The scourge of the unions weren't only the bosses but the scabs. We have seen strikes in more recent times and scabs continue to break the picket lines.

I would encourage people to join a union because we all know things are going to get tough and many people will be in dispute with their bosses. Being in a union is no guarantee of keeping a job but at least it's better to be in one instead of trying to fight on your own. 

So that's another part of Béal Feirste I've dandered around. So my next port of call will be ... 


Padraic Mac Coitir is a former republican
prisoner and current political activist.

4 comments:

  1. I remember being in the Docker's Club for a drink one morning (it was one of those days...). There was a queue outside the door, waiting for the doors to open. Inside, behind the bar, there were bullet holes that had been plastered over. I think some of Adair's dickheads had shot the place up a few years beforehand.

    What a raucous place it was. A barely remembered memorable morning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BTW - Dead Centre tours do an excellent walk round the centre of Belfast. They go into the history of Sailor Town - and Belfast's own "Little Italy"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sean Mallory comments

    Drank in the Rotterdam many's a night....it was a great bar for live music....bands from everywhere played there and what an eclectic bunch of bands they were.....spent many's a St Patrick's Day in Pats too....worst toilets I ever came across and always had to go round to the Rotterdam to use theirs when Pat's flooded...some great characters drank in those two pubs...got talking to a fella in Pat's one night who was at school with Bono...said he was a complete arse at school and hasn't changed since!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the Danders - they are full of character and lacking in all pretentiousness.

    ReplyDelete