"Traditionally, the Irish pub is a place where men meet to talk over their pints. Its furnishings need not be luxurious; wooden bar stools and horsehair settees will do. The window on the street need show no more than a couple of framed showcards for brands of whiskey, not necessarily those still available inside. Women are not to be seen in the bar. Not many women frequent the pub, and those who do are tucked away discreetly in a little compartment known as the snug." So wrote Maurice Gorham, former Director of Radio Eireann (1953 to 1959). But then he went on: "That is, or was, the traditional Irish pub, the pub of ten, twenty, fifty years ago, and pubs of this kind are still with us. But a new trend has set in, and the pubs of today are more often light, spacious, with wide leather seats, carpets underfoot, taped music playing or a television set interrupting the conversation, places where women are expected and catered for, where there is no snug and probably the pub itself is all lounge and has no simple straightforward bar; where waiters circulate carrying trays laden with a bewildering variety of drinks." Gorham was introducing, in 1969, a book Roy Bulson's Irish Pubs of Character. Maurice Gorham's sympathies are not to be disguised. He admits that there is a lot to be said for the new style, there is also a definite plea for those who prefer the old. "As each old-fashioned pint house passes into the hands of the modernisers, its habitues, displaced, find it harder to know where to go."
The days were passing when notable figures, literary figures in many cases, had their regular weekly rendezvous. M. J. Mac Manus of the Irish Press, Brinsley MacNamara, Frank Gallagher, Dev's trusted aide, Cathal O'Shannon (father of the Cathal of today), Austin Clarke, Francis MacManus of Radio Eireann and of course, R.M. Smyllie. Gorham had a good grasp of the niceties of pub life. "One difference from English habits: even if the landlord is friendly, you don't offer him a drink. `Never throw apples into an orchard' is the usual reply." Another admirable custom writes Gorham is reluctance to use customers' names. Initials are the rule. "Mr G was in, Mr O, but he said nothing about the other thing." Gorham, born in London was son of Mr J. J. Gorham of Clifden, Co Galway. He had many high posts in the BBC before coming to RE. Died in 1975, aged 73. Y