The Blairs Inn Story

 

 

The Formative Years

Our parents, John and Anne Blair, bought Blairs Inn in 1986. They were very different times in the pub trade back then. I remember the pub could be thronged all days of the week with people necking back pints and whiskeys galore. Even then mum and dad saw that there was a market for pub food. It started off with a few forresters from the Blarney Estate who came looking for soup and sandwiches one day. So mum magiced up a few sambos for them. They were then coming in five days a week. The forresters had soon grown tired of soup and sandwiches so the menu got more adventurous. Toasted sandwiches were the order of the day for a while. However these were hungry boys, so it was on to full dinners. Corned Beef and Cabbage was a real favourite of theirs and it is to this day one of our most popular dishes. Others followed, usually lost or looking for directions, but they stayed when they saw the fayre on offer.

Our mother Anne had always been an accomplished cook. However amazingly she never had formal training. It didn't matter. People loved the home made style of cooking. Soon they were beginning to come in greater numbers. The guesthouses and bed and breakfasts in the area were beginning to send their guests. Then people started coming from Cork City and further afield as word spread. Soon Blairs Inn was been featured in various guide books to Ireland. While the menu might have been limited to a few dishes, the ingredients were as locally sourced as possible and were always freshly prepared ... a principle by which we will always stand.

Mum and Dad had always loved fish. So it wasn't long before they became widely known for the quality of their seafood. By 1998 they came runner up in the Bord Iascaigh Mhara Seafood Pub competition. They also won the Licensing World Pub Lunch Award. In 2002 they came runner up in the Les Routieres Dining Pub of the Year. Then in the following year Dad was deservedly awarded the Les Routieres Host of the Year. They had come and awful long way from their first bowl of soup and sandwich.

The Blair Brothers

In 2002 I finally decided to get involved full time in the business. I had always worked in the pub when I was in college in UCC, while I was doing my Arts Degree and my post grad in Computer Science (I know, has chef written all over it). I then spent a few years travelling throughout Asia and living in Australia and New Zealand. Anyway I decided that I wanted to persue my passion for food. I had spent a summer working as a chef in Greece a few years before and I had never enjoyed anything as much. So I went off to Ballymaloe Cookery School for three months and I can honestly say I haven't looked back since. I've also been very lucky to have worked with some great chefs here who were very paitent with me at the start (to my face anyway). Now I'd be able to give them a real run for their money. 

Richie then became involved here full time in 2006. He studied Tourism and Leisure in Glamorgan University. After college he worked for a while in the Tourist Office in Cork City. He used to love sending people to eat out here and seeing the suprised look on their faces when they'd see him standing behind the bar. Richie then worked as a tour guide on bus tours around Ireland and England before finally coming back to Blairs. In fact he is the one in the family with the green fingers and puts huge effort into our gardens. Indeed the place has never looked better.

So that's a little bit about us. We're really enjoying it at the moment. It seems almost every week we find a new artisan supplier or craft beer to try out. We feel that the Irish food industry is one thing that this country is world class in. Our dairy and meat is second to none. We only used certified Angus or Hereford steaks, all sourced from within a 20 mile radius. All of our meats are 100% Irish. Nearly all all of our cheeses come from Cork County. In season our vegetables are all locally grown. We are always thankful to our suppliers for their continous hard work and attention to detail. Indeed when you can couple such fantastic raw materials with passionate and likeminded suppliers you're on to a winner.

Take the Blairs Inn tour