‘They’re demolishing old pubs and building older ones’

Sir, – Frank McNally gives a detailed account of the effort put into scuffing and distressing all surfaces in the Paddy Whelan pub in Riga to give a lived-in effect.

In the 1990s, when the Celtic Tiger was alive and well, many Irish publicans also spent a lot of money to “reproduce the authenticity of the originals.”

One day, when I was in Dublin, the late Pat Inglodsby summed it up for me: “They’re demolishing old pubs and building older ones.” – Yours, etc,

MATTIE LENNON,

RM Block

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Blessington,

Co Wicklow.