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KELLYS BAR NAMED NEWSTALK BEST LOCAL 2010

30-August-2010

Kelly’s Bar, Strandhill in Sligo has been named the Newstalk Best Local 2010, in association with the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI), and this Friday (3 September 2010) it will host a special live broadcast of Moncrieff from 2pm to the nation to celebrate the win.
Since the 26th July, Newstalk listeners from around the country have been texting in the name and location of their favourite local pub to Moncrieff on Newstalk 106-108 fm and last Friday, in what was an extremely close and exciting contest, Kelly’s Bar was the last local standing.

During an intensely competitive couple of weeks, the votes came flooding in but in the end the four provincial winners were The Boothouse Bar, Cork (Munster), Glencar Inn, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal (Ulster), The Dublin Bar, Oldcastle, Co. Meath (Leinster) and of course Kelly’s Bar representing Connacht.

For their efforts each bar received a visit from Moncrieff’s roving reporter Henry McKean to help boost voting numbers in the lead up to the final announcement and this seemed to do the trick for Kelly’s Bar in particular as they received a huge amount of votes on the back of Henry’s broadcast.

For their efforts Padraic and Geraldine Killoran of Kelly’s Bar will receive a live broadcast of Moncrieff all of their own, in addition to a €10,000 radio advertising campaign. There will also be a holiday courtesy of the Flynn Group of four weekend breaks in any of the Flynn Group Hotels.

The Flynn Group also gave a weekend away to a lucky texter in each of the four provinces and in a notable one-two for Strandhill, John Paul Muldowney also of Strandhill, Sligo was the Connacht winner. Ann-Marie Dunny from Dublin, Alibhe Forde from Mayo and Paschal Kelly from Kildare were the other three winners.

Padraic, originally from Riverstown in Sligo, and Geraldine, originally from Inishowen in Donegal, have been running Kelly’s Bar for the past 8 years and believe that their loyal following comes down to a the fun filled atmosphere that they have created in Kelly’s Bar.
“We opened the beer garden for the first time this year and that has been a huge success. In addition, we have big screens for sports events, a darts team and a golf society. So we would like to think that we cater for everyone from the armchair football fan to the avid golfer” explained Geraldine.

“I suppose it is really uplifting to see our customers support us in such a way and we can not thank them enough for it – it really is quite humbling. To be named as one of four provincial winners was brilliant but to get that call off Sean last Friday was just amazing!

“Padraic and I are just so grateful to everyone – to our family, friends and children, Michael, Sarah, Brian and Hannah in particular - for their support and to Newstalk and the VFI of course for this great initiative which promotes the industry that we love. We can’t wait now for the live broadcast on Friday and we would love to see as many people as possible popping in to say hello!”

Sean Moncrieff said: “The response throughout the whole competition was fantastic! The four regional pubs really showed how important the local is to its patrons. It really is an extension of someone sitting room, a place to catch up with friends and neighbours about the important things in life ... which is best - crisps or peanuts and who will win the next match / X Factor / karaoke night!
The Moncrieff team are really looking forward to broadcasting from the Moncrieff Best Local Pub of 2010 in Strandhill, Sligo this Friday ... Mines a pint!

I'd like to thank the runner ups .... The Dublin Bar in Oldcastle, Co. Meath - who can forget a singing dog! The Boothouse in Glanmire, Co. Cork - last year’s overall winners and great participants and The Glencar Inn, Letterkenny in Donegal - where else would Henry get a free darts lesson and some chicken nuggets. All great pubs and fine examples of what a good local can be.”

Gerry Mellett, President of the VFI, commented: “I’d like to congratulate Kelly’s Bar on being named Newstalk Best Local 2010. It is always great to see customers showing their appreciation for a pubs efforts and this crowd definitely seem to be something special.
“We were delighted to team up with Newstalk to promote the virtues of the pub and if the enthusiastic response the competition received is anything to go by, then the pub is alive and well at the heart of communities throughout the country.”