Obituary: John O’Farrell – Publican who served pint to Reagan

John O'Farrell, who has died aged 76, was a Co Tipperary publican who famously hosted former US president Ronald Reagan during his visit to Ireland more than three decades ago.

For a few days in June 1984, the sleepy village of Ballyporeen, near Cahir in Tipperary, ancestral birthplace of Reagan's great-grandfather, became a focal point of global interest.

A small army of trench-coated and armed secret service agents, as well as the world media, descended on the quiet hamlet when news broke that the president had accepted an invitation from O’Farrell to visit his pub.

Not alone did Mr Reagan famously down a pint of Smithwicks in the public bar while his wife, Nancy, sipped Carolans Irish cream liqueur, he also held a cabinet meeting in the lounge, where he was briefed by members of the White House staff on the state of the world beyond Tipperary.

GAA activities

After primary school at Ballyporeen NS, O’Farrell attended

Rockwell College

. Taking over the running of the pub when his parents died, he was steeped in GAA activities, including handball.

In 2002, long after the euphoria of the Reagan visit, the pub, which had been in the O’Farrell family for over 200 years, and which was shrewdly renamed after Ronald Reagan, was placed on the market by O’Farrell so that he and his wife, Mary, could have more time to themselves. When it failed to sell, they decided to close the business and retire.

In the intervening years the Reagans and the O’Farrells had kept in close touch, exchanging Christmas cards and writing letters.

The last letter from the former president was written shortly before he died in June 2004 and referred to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. When his son and daughter visited Ireland, they called on the O’Farrells.

Unrefuseable offer

No sooner had they closed the doors of the old family pub than the owners received an offer they simply couldn’t refuse for the entire interior of the bar, including the counter, the wall-length display cabinet and the beer taps.

It was then shipped lock, stock and barrel to California, where it now forms a central feature of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, a $25 million, 100-acre pavilion overlooking the Pacific ocean.

Faithfully recreated, it is exactly as it was when Reagan downed his pint, complete with the very kegs and glasses used on that day, including the actual bottle of Carolans liqueur from which Nancy Reagan’s drink was poured.

The reborn bar fits snugly under the shadow of another major exhibit, the Airforce One jet that carried Reagan on more than 200 missions.

The idea of transporting it to America was conceived when a friend of the Reagans, on a visit to Ballyporeen, heard that the O’Farrells were planning to close the pub down and sell the licence. Five years ago, John and Mary O’Farrell were guests of honour when the bar was rededicated in California.

“We are absolutely chuffed,” Mrs O’Farrell said at the time. “We couldn’t have imagined in our wildest dreams that our pub would continue on as the Ronald Reagan O’Farrell pub.”

In a strange twist of fate, John O’Farrell’s name continues to be inextricably linked with the old family pub, which has been given a new lease of life on a different continent.

Predeceased by his son, John, John O’Farrell is survived by his widow, Mary, sons Aengus and Tom, daughters Laura and Catherine, brothers Patsy and Tom, sisters Nan, Kathleen, Helen and Teresa.