In G. K. Chesterton's 1914 novel The Flying Inn, a prospective future Britain has been taken over by a weird sect of progressive Islam, which regime has completely outlawed the consumption of alcohol. No more pubs, no more warm beers, no more smoky Scotch single malts, no more British gin. So, the heroes of the piece, enterprising sorts named Humphrey Pump and Captain Patrick Dalroy, load a huge gin barrel into a cart and career around the countryside, defying the regime and bringing libations to all who desire them.
Now, a 21st-century version of Chesterton's flying inn has come to Massachusetts, home to a substantial population of Irish descent.
Just before St. Patrick’s Day, an Irish pub appeared one night beneath a basketball hoop in a suburban Massachusetts driveway.
Neighbors packed around the bar as music played and Guinness flowed — inside a miniature pub that had been towed in for the night.
Instead of heading out to celebrate the holiday, the bar had come to them.
“The Wee Irish Pub” was delivered by Tiny Pubs, a small business run by brothers Matt and Craig Taylor, who build miniature Irish pubs on wheels for holidays, weddings and backyard parties across New England.
Decorated with antique signs, church pews, an electric fireplace and a bar crafted from the front panel of an 1864 piano, the pubs recreate the feel of a traditional Irish pub — but are just small enough to fit in a driveway.
Now that's a good idea, and that's for sure and for certain.
Read More: Morning Minute: Embrace Your Irish
One of the hosts of this new flying inn had some cogent remarks:
“It’s really just a time to forget about whatever’s going on in the world,” said Mark Cote, who hosted the pub in his Andover driveway last Friday. “That’s what pubs are supposed to be — for people coming together and having fun.”
Around 20 people from five families — whose children grew up together — squeezed into the roughly 20-foot-long (6-meter) space for Cote’s annual holiday party, creating what he said felt like a real neighborhood bar.
We can all use a little more of that. And when better than on St. Patrick's Day? Not that the Irish have ever needed a reason for a pint or a tot of whiskey, but it's kind of traditional on this day. I have, in my time, been fortunate enough to have the chance to hang out in a few genuine Irish pubs in old Dublin town, back when Dublin was still Irish, so I appreciated the tradition. And while St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday, this clever innovation, this way of bringing the party to the partiers, well, that right there is quintessentially America.
As G.K. Chesterton cautions us in his poem, The Song of Right and Wrong:
If an angel out of heaven
Brings you other things to drink,
Thank him for his kind attentions,
Go and pour them down the sink.
We all make our own drink choices. And now, on St. Patrick's Day, the choice to enjoy a Guinness or a tot of Irish whiskey is now a little closer at hand in Massachusetts, and that's a good thing. Let's hope this is a trend that grows legs.
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