Tutty's Bar in the village of Hollywood, Co Wicklow is the quintessential Irish pub with its panelled interior installed in the early 1900s and its walls hung with old pub mirrors and memorabilia. But there's more to see here than old drink advertisements.
There's Meryl Streep for instance, in a photograph with the pub's late owner Jim Tutty, taken when the star was in Wicklow filming Dancing at Lughnasa in 1997. Locals still remember her flying past on a high nelly bike but then the movies are nothing new in Hollywood. Film crews have been in and out of the village, and Tutty's, frequently over the years as the west Wicklow village has provived the backdrop for many movies, series and advertising campaigns. Neil Jordan's Michael Collins film was partially shot in Hollywood, with Liam Leeson and Julia Roberts often stopping by Tutty's Bar The famous scene at Béal na mBláth when Collins was killed in an ambush was filmed in nearby Corrigans field. More recently, scenes for The Siege of Jadotville starring Jamie Dorman were filmed in Tutty's.
Now Tutty’s pub, which has been in the same family since the 1870s has come on the market through Wicklow agents JP&M Doyle, asking €485,000.The property, which stands on 1.6 acres, includes a four-bedroom home.
"It's being sold as a going concern" says Paul Doyle of the selling agents, pointing out the development potential of ground which include several store rooms and outbuildings. "A new owner might consider investing in accommodation given the area its by a national park." With its pub license alone worth around €60,000, Tutty's could be snapped up by any number of commercially minded buyers, but it may also be viewed by families as a home and business possibility. The Georgian era building includes a traditional bar to to the front, as well as a large lounge, a games room and toilets. The residential part of the building is laid out as a four-bedroom house with two large reception rooms.
Hollywood is situated just off the N81 between Blessington and Baltinglass at the western end of the Wicklow Gap. It's easily accessible from the M50 and the Naas dual carriageway, less than a hour from Dublin's city centre.
The pub stands in row of period buildings on one side of the village’s main street. Across the road is another pub, The Hollywood Inn. The village’s population swells at weekends and right through the summer with cyclists, walkers and tourists. The Hollywood Fair, a 1950s themed fair that has taken place in the village for the last six years, getting bigger every year, is scheduled to take place this year from 16th - 20th August.
The west Wicklow village has claims on the better known Hollywood, Los Angeles, which, it's said, got its name when Matthew Guirke, a Hollywood man who fled the Famine and ended up in LA where he gave the name of his home village to a racetrack and surrounding area that became the movie capital. Historians have disputed this, but not in Hollywood, Co Wicklow which also has a sign on the hill above the village spelling out HOLLYWOOD in large white letters, though not as large as those on the hillside in LA.