Playwright John B Keane tells RTÉ News about his plans following the closure of his Listowel pub.
A number of factors have influenced his decision to close his pub. He will be 65 next year and he is worn out from working in the pub. His two brothers Eamon and Bill died suddenly in recent times and he sees that as
Adequate warning for any man to hang up his boots.
He plans to remain living in the same house and will continue to write. He says that he would like to see more of Ireland and he has never been to a St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin.
I'd like to take things easy for a while with my beloved.
For the past several years his wife has been running the business.
I generally prop up a stool at the outside of the counter where I spread by benign influence over the customers and join all in sundry for a drink when the occasion demands.
He gives an account of how he clears the house at the end of an evening.
Ladies and gentlemen it is my painful duty to inform you that under the powers invested in me by the Minister for Justice you must now vacate these premises and proceed in an orderly fashion to your various jails, whore houses, caravans, and asylums. In other words, get the hell out of here.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 31 August 1992. The reporter is Bryan Dobson.
