Has the Irish Welcome Cooled?
Traditionally, Irish hospitality has been famous for making you feel right at home. Good company, good conversation and a big welcome. But now that is being questioned and by an Irishman to boot.
There is a website called The Bar Blogger, (www.thebarblogger.com.) written by a man with over 15 years experience of bar work in Ireland, the UK and now Ohio in the USA. It is he who has written that Ireland used to be the land of 1000 welcomes. No longer he claims.
He says that as the Irish economy grew and people grew richer, waiters became ruder and basic greetings were replaced by a grunt. In short, Ireland was not as welcoming as it once was.
Is he right?
I hope not. I haven’t been to Ireland for getting on for a year but over the last thirty or so, I‘ve been there many times. The hospitality and company at many an Irish evening is fondly remembered. Irish tourism is built on that and it will have a longlasting effect if it isn’t true.
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