The set of the isolated village pub in Martin McDonagh’s much-lauded The Banshees of Inisherin has been reassembled inside a family-run pub in Galway, west Ireland.
JJ Devine’s Public House serves as the backdrop to many of the key scenes in the drama. starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, which notched up nine nominations in the Academy Awards.
The rustic Irish watering hole was built on location on Achill Island, County Mayo, where much of the movie was filmed.
After filming wrapped up, the set was quickly taken apart and left to waste before publican Luke Mee showed an interest, RTÉ reports.
He said: ‘I’d heard the set was dismantled and the parts were lying in a yard in Achill for months with nobody showing any interest.
Local Pake Diskin, 72, pours a pint of Guinness as Patrick McDermott looks on in the pub that featured in Martin McDonagh’s film ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’
Co-owner Luke Mee, 52, pets a donkey called Holly in Mee’s Bar in Kilgerrin, which has been furnished using the set of JJ Devine’s in The Banshees of Inishowen
Brendan Gleeson (Colm) and Colin Farrell (Pádraic) inside JJ Devine’s pub in The Banshees of Inisherin
‘All the structural parts were in good condition, so I took them back to the yard at the back of Mee’s Bar here in Kilkerrin in Galway and set about returning the iconic pub to its former glory.
‘Everything, down to the windowpanes, was meticulously rebuilt with the help of family, friends and neighbours. Hours upon hours went into this project which now stands on the site of our bar in Kilkerrin.’
The pub is marked by a key scene in the film where Colm and Pádraic, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell’s characters’, friendship breaks down.
The film is set at the tail end of the Irish Civil War in 1923 and follows both Colm and Pádraic as they navigate a break down in their relationship.
Brendan Gleeson’s character, Colm, decides that his lifelong friend, Pádraic, played by Colin Farrell, is too dull for him and he decides to end their friendship, much to the dismay of his friend.
Mr Mee and his family have hopes that the pub will become a tourist attraction for fans of the critically acclaimed film, where customers will be able to enjoy live music and take pictures.
One of those tourists could end up being US singer Taylor Swift, who has previously praised the ‘authenticity’ of the set in Acaill and has also expressed an interest in visiting the pub if it was ever rebuilt.
The star would be warmly greeted by the Mee Family who say she could expect a pint on the house and a céad míle fáilte (a thousand welcomes).
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