The village of Kilteely has been experiencing an unexpected boom in recent months.
Located in east Co. Limerick near the Tipperary border, this small but vibrant parish has been the subject of much national media attention since August 2025.
The attention is not unwarranted, it comes following the remarkable efforts of local residents to save their last remaining pub.
The Street Bar, formerly known as Ahern’s, was set to close down following the retirement of the previous owners. Those who live here however, had other ideas.
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The bar was saved from closure by a syndicate of 26 locals, who raised €300,000 to keep the pub alive.
Among them is co-managing director, Noel O’Dea. A gardener by trade, Noel explains why the revival is so important to the town in the wake of so many other local business closures.
“It’s taken the last of my generation. The whole scene has changed around Kilteely, and most other villages of this size have changed completely.
“The post office is gone, the shops, the creamery, the forge and all the other pubs. This was the last common meeting place in the village, so that was the catalyst for the group to come together and buy the pub.”
Noel is one of two managing directors of the Street Bar, alongside fellow syndicate member Liam Carroll, who run the pub alongside bar manager Eileen O’Dea (no relation; in fact, eight syndicate members have the surname O’Dea)
Saving the Street Bar represents a major victory for Kilteely.
As Noel alludes that issues of business closures, particularly pubs, are being felt in other villages and small towns across the country.
A 2025 study issued by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) found that over 2,100 pubs had closed down in Ireland since 2005.
That’s an average of 112 per year across the two decades, or one in four pubs nationally. Limerick is the worst affected county, with the number of pubs declining 37%.
Most of these closures are in small, rural villages like Kilteely, making the syndicate’s efforts even more impressive.
But The Street Bar did not just survive. From the ashes of Ahern’s, it has thrived as something of an unexpected tourist hotspot, as Eileen explains:
“There’s definitely been a big increase in visitors to Kilteely since the pub reopened, and they’re travelling far and wide.
“We’ve actually had customers from Texas here, so the stories has been followed far outside Kilteely.”
Locals here tell Limerick Voice they couldn’t be happier to see the bar doing so well.
John Connery, was comedically quick to correct the Limerick Voice calling Kilteely a town, instead referring to the area as a “village in the grass.”
Full of pride, he states he’s “delighted” to have the pub still open.
“If it went, it would have been an awful loss. I’m delighted people got together and stuck by it, and kept the village alive.
“If a pub dies in a village, the village dies.”
It’s not just the Texan tourists that keep The Street Bar going. Fellow patron Eugene McNamara says the pub is a real hub for the community.
“It’s brilliant. If it was gone, we’d have nowhere to go. Even Mother’s Day just passed there, we had kids and the whole lot up here. It’s great for everyone.”
This warmth can be felt throughout the establishment as locals seem to pop in for a chat as much as they do for the pints.
With such a brilliant success story, it’s no wonder this charming little pub from ‘a village in the grass’ has achieved such fame.
Part of that is due to ‘The Pub That Refused to Die.’
The aptly named short film, commissioned by Heineken and directed by Gar O’Rourke, is a retelling of the local efforts that led to The Street Bar’s dramatic revival.
It premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival on February 28.
“We took a large bus load of people from the parish up there, and we all had an amazing weekend. It was just fantastic for everyone,” says Noel, who featured in the film.
In fact, the film’s whole cast is made up of locals, with members of the Street Bar syndicate getting their chance to shine on the big screen while reimagining their own inspiring story.
“Heineken have supported us from the get go, when the bar was first reopened,” bar manager Eileen shares.
“They really liked the story, so they started following us for three or four weeks. It was mad while they were here, but the craic we had was good craic.”
The short film is available to watch here.