With reference to your article of Sept. 6th “Wilmington sports bar will take over Fitzgerald’s spot on Franklin Street,” I would like to point out that the prior bars in that space were never true Irish bars, or having “an Irish focus.”
Early in its life, I was dining there, and asked that the volume be raised on one of the TVs that happened to be tuned to an Irish international rugby game being played in Dublin live — in competition with a myriad of other sports on other TVs. The wait staff declined, citing some feeble reasoning. Heresy!
Putting a shamrock on the wall and a cute Irish-sounding name over the door does not an Irish bar make. The premises has always housed a sports bar, never a true Irish “local.”
For that, you need to visit the likes of Tigh Bhurca in Clonbur, County Galway.
Prof. Peadar Noone
UNC School of Medicine
