Heineken has launched a worldwide recruitment campaign to find a successor for Josie McLoughlin, owner of McLoughlin’s Bar on Achill Island, Co. Mayo.
This initiative marks the Irish launch of ‘For the Love of Pubs,’ a new programme over the next three years, designed to support, sustain, and celebrate Irish pubs.
McLoughlin’s Bar, a fourth-generation family pub established in 1870, faces an uncertain future as Josie McLoughlin, with no direct family to inherit the business, seeks a new custodian to continue its legacy.
Heineken is helping Josie find a suitable namesake, launching a global search to keep the McLoughlin name above the door.
"I have no one to leave the pub to, and I’d resigned myself to looking for a buyer outside the family and seeing my name being lost to history," said Josie McLoughlin. "That would just break my heart. The name McLoughlin is woven into the very fabric of this pub.
"The past 50 years have been incredibly fulfilling for me and I’d love to see that story continue, finding a McLoughlin descendant to take it forward. If I could guarantee the McLoughlin name would still be above the door of the pub in another 155 years, I’d die a happy man.”
The global recruitment campaign will include billboards and digital advertising in cities with large Irish diasporas, from Times Square in New York to Sydney and Vietnam. Heineken will offer a comprehensive succession package to the chosen candidate, to help them get their feet behind the bar, including mentorship, business support and initial investment guidance to ensure the pub remains a thriving part of the community.
"For the Love of Pubs' is more than just an investment; it’s a statement of intent," said Fiona Curtin, marketing director at Heineken Ireland. "We believe that Irish pubs need to continue to be the thriving, beating heart of Irish communities, and we’re working in partnership with publicans to find refreshing ways to do business.
"We want to give back to the places that have given so much to Ireland's social fabric."
