New era at beloved Athy pub

Locals enjoyed a pint and good company at an iconic bar in Athy which is under new ownership.

Market House, better known as ‘Andersons’, was sold at a public auction last month in the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge to local entrepreneurs Dan and Edwina Curtis.

Dan and Edwina, who run The Auld Shebeen, have received plenty of well-wishes and support, with people delighted that Andersons will remain in local ownership.

They invited people to call in on Friday 23 August from 5pm to help mark the beginning of what will undoubtedly be an exciting journey.

It wasn’t an official reopening, which will hopefully take place before Christmas – Dan noted that there are long-standing customers of Andersons who were waiting for it to open back up again.

“We said we’d open it up and we’re going to do the works as it’s open,” he said.

“It was great to get it back open again and we’re really looking forward now to the next few months of just getting things done, getting toilets and all done.” 

Our photographer Aisling Hyland popped along that Friday evening to capture it for posterity – including Dan and Edwina with their business partners Donna and Des Murphy.

“Des and Donna are partners with me in it, it's a venture between the four of us, so looking forward to working with them as well,” Dan said.

The property itself is a terraced three-bay three-storey late Georgian house with licensed premises on the ground floor and two floors overhead comprising residential accommodation.

The original part of the property was built in the 1800s with further extensions to the rear over the intervening time.