“Your personality, the people behind the counter, a decent pint
– that’s what an Irish pub is.”
There’s more to the Wicklow Arms pub than first meets the eye. Granted, it is small but landlord Michael Moulton assures it can fit in 41 well-built fans for football and rugby matches.
When I first heard about The Wicklow Arms, I wasn’t clear where Michael was from. The pub name was unmistakably Irish but, “I’m sure he’s English,” said my friend.
“My father was an Irish marine,” Michael tells me over a cup of tea one morning. “He left Ireland quite young and met my mother in London. They lived abroad most of the time. I was born in England, in Portsmouth.” Already an early connection to Bilbao then?
The name of the bar reflects Michael’s link with Ireland (the county of Wicklow lies just south of Dublin) but he insists the bar is representative of both sides of his heritage. As a half-Welsh Englishwoman, I often wonder why Irish bars have the upper hand internationally. The 90s boom in the Irish economy led to an aptly-named firm, the Irish Pub Company, giving a Celtic makeover to a number of bars worldwide. Inevitably, the bubble burst – “of sixteen Irish pubs that were in Bilbao, only three remain,” says Michael.
One of the key traits of The Wicklow Arms is that, unlike a lot of so-called Irish pubs, it is much more authentic: “We didn’t want to go over the top,” explains Michael. “For example, the maps are all of places where I’ve been.” Then, of course, there is the leprechaun; a two-foot carving complete with human teeth that hangs from the light-fitting.
Michael’s pub career goes back twenty-three years and, appropriately, began in Ireland: “A friend of my uncle’s opened a bar in Dunmore East in Waterford. I went there to do the advertising (due to previous experience working for a supermarket chain). One day they were short-staffed, so I went behind the bar. I liked it but I didn’t like the village – too quiet and isolated. A friend was keen on going to London, so I decided to pack up and try the big city. For an Irish barman with training you could get a job quite easily and the wages were very good. I had a good time, enjoying life to the full.”
Some years later, including one spent in Australia, and with love and bar-owning prospects good reasons to make the move, Michael headed to the Basque Country.
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By Olwen Mears. Martin Beacham, the Englishman behind Martin’s Bodega, the shop of unusual Rioja wines recently opened in the old part of Vitoria-Gasteiz, has been resident in the Basque capital since 1997: In twelve years he has returned to England only once.
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