Youghal

+

Farewell to a Quayside Legend: Kevin Linehan Reflects on Moby Dicks’ 170-Year Saga

By Michael Hussey, CRY104fm, Youghal – 5th December 2025

In the upstairs sitting room of Youghal’s iconic Moby Dicks pub – once the art department office for John Huston’s 1954 Hollywood epic – Kevin Linehan sits amid Victorian furnishings and family memorabilia, his voice steady but laced with sentiment. Recorded on the premises this Friday, the conversation captures the heart of a family dynasty ending on New Year’s Day 2026, after 50 years behind the bar for Kevin and more than 170 since the building’s origins in 1880.

This quayside landmark, renamed during the filming frenzy that drew Gregory Peck and thousands to the Market Dock, embodies Youghal’s maritime soul. “This is the sitting room of Moby Dicks,” Kevin explains. “Back in July 1954, Hollywood actors Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart and Royal Dano had their office here. They paid Paddy Linehan £5 a week.” Extras were paid even on quiet days – a nod to director John Huston’s generosity. Paddy, Kevin’s late father, saw the boom: barrel sales jumped from one or two to ten nightly. After the film wrapped, he made the name permanent – a stroke of genius that turned a butcher’s shop into a pub legend.

Paddy and his wife Maureen, both devout Catholics, infused the place with unyielding values. “My mother and father were devout Catholics. They went to Mass every Sunday,” Kevin recalls, noting an uncle who was a priest and an aunt who was a nun on Maureen’s side, plus his wife Bríd’s three priest brothers. Bad language earned Paddy’s swift “red card” – no exceptions. Maureen, from Slane, County Meath, graced the cover of Women’s Way in 1967. She worked in the textile industry and later came to Youghal with her two sisters, Rose and Lily. She first met Paddy at the Showboat dance hall in Youghal. Their shared faith drove community action: during the emigration crisis of the 1980s, Paddy urged prayer vigils at the parish church for new industry. Soon, factories such as Power Products, Dennison Doret, Kodak and others arrived. “People will say it’s hokum,” Kevin laughs, “but within a short couple of years, the thing turned.”

Paddy’s civic legacy looms large. A Fine Gael man who later switched to the more progressive Fianna Fáil, he served 40 years on the council as chairman and mayor, attracting factories and pioneering allotments at Seafield amid 1970s and 1980s closures such as Youghal Carpets. The political thread did not end with him: their daughter, Mary Linehan Foley, carried the flag into a new generation as an independent councillor and now serves as the current Mayor of Cork County, extending the Linehan commitment to public service beyond the town itself. Paddy demonstrated trawling techniques to locals before they had their own boats and was even “blacklisted” by the Vintners’ Association for selling cheaper pints of Guinness. “Customers loved it,” Kevin says. The family expanded in the 1960s, buying the adjacent Spouters Inn (a nod to the novel), renovated by Mossie Buttimer and his crew. The artist Walter Verling was commissioned to paint an enduring mural stretching the full length of the wall. Harpoons, ship’s wheels and stained glass by Watsons of Youghal adorn the walls – treasures Kevin hopes will be preserved under new ownership.

Generations packed the bar for sing-songs, weddings and craic. The piano was played by the late Kieran Nolan, the dentist and gifted pianist. Staff such as Morris O’Brien, Biddy Smiddy, Jack Brown, Tadhg Foley, Maurice Hennessy, Síle McMahon, the Hennessy sisters from the Square and the Murphy brothers from Friar Street all did their time behind the counter. Loyal families – the Flanagans, Husseys, Hennesseys, Roaches, Murphys and many more – sustained it. Kevin’s daughter held her wedding reception there last summer, and for Corpus Christi the frontage was decorated with holy pictures. Music eras shone: DJ Ger Ronan, young Michael Sheehan, Elvis tributes, Gordon Coleman with his Neil Diamond tones, and the Busking Festival years, when Moby Dicks served as headquarters under organisers like Tony Desmond, Tim Smith, Cliff Windsor and Winston Greer. Paddy’s Irish-coffee demonstrations for visiting tour groups, accompanied by his archive of autographs and newspaper cuttings, captivated American guests.

Yet the tides turned. Youghal’s 30-plus pubs in Kevin’s youth dwindled to about 14, and nationally, the number of pubs has fallen by about a quarter since 2005, from around 8,600 to 6,500, with more than 2,100 closures in 20 years. Post‑Covid, closures lasted two years and many people grew used to socialising at home. The smoking ban – “Micheál Martin will always be remembered for that,” Kevin quips – along with soaring insurance, energy and staffing costs, has crushed independent operators. “Pubs are expensive to run now,” he says. “Two‑thirds of the pint goes to the Government on tax – you struggle with overheads.” In West Cork, where Bríd is from, Skibbereen now has only six pubs, and Youghal has lost the Quality Hotel at Redbarn. Culture has shifted: gyms instead of pints, zero‑alcohol options on the rise. “The pub was the heart of the community – for funerals, weddings, anniversaries. The Government must look at this – vary the ratio, give publicans a break.”

Gazing at the Ahab sculpture staring back towards the pub, Kevin hopes Moby Dicks will endure. “Hopefully it will shine on under new management – it’s important for the town’s cultural area.” Messages of support are pouring in from former staff, locals and well‑wishers. As the doors prepare to close, Kevin honours them all: generations of families he wants to thank personally for their loyalty. Like the great whale that slips beneath the waves only to surface again, the spirit of Moby Dicks feels destined to rise once more in Youghal.

Pictures:
Kevin Linehan, dressed as Captain Ahab, raises a pint of Murphy’s stout and a harpoon outside Moby Dicks in Youghal, beneath the famous quayside mural celebrating the town’s Hollywood‑linked maritime pub. Photo: Michael Hussey

Kevin and Bríd Linehan beside the specially commissioned Watsons Stained Glass of Moby Dick inside the famed pub. The pub will close on New Year’s Day 2026. Photo: Michael Hussey

Kevin Linehan, dressed in period costume as Captain Ahab, beside the limestone sculptor of Captain Ahab celebrating the town’s Hollywood‑linked maritime pub. Photo: Michael Hussey

Kevin and Bríd Linehan behind the bar of Moby Dicks Pub with customers Cliff Winser and Guy Boddez

Customer Guy Fleming with Bríd Linehan beside the Hollywood wall of fame featuring the cast of Moby Dick.

Paddy and Maureen Linehan ouside the Holy Family Church, Youghal, during the official opening.

Paddy and Maureen Linehan with the American director John Huston and a young Kevin Linehan during the shooting of the film "Sinful Dove" on the Banks of the Boyne back in 1965/66 ... See MoreSee Less

+

Vibrant Arts Pillar Meeting Energises Youghal's Future

A large, enthusiastic crowd from Youghal's arts community and surrounding areas gathered at the revitalised Walter Raleigh Hotel last night for the Youghal Town Centre Stakeholders Group (YTCSG) Pillar 4 meeting on Arts, Culture & Heritage. Hosted under the excellent new management of the Choice Hotel Group, the venue looked sharper than ever, making it the perfect central hub for this community-driven initiative.

John Kelly introduced the key speakers: the highly competent Deirdre Lane with Adrian Curtin, and Micheál De Buitléir, who presented a compelling PowerPoint on the Town Centre First progress. Highlights included the April 2025 Town Hall, 358 survey responses spotlighting Youghal's seaside appeal, historic heritage, and challenges like commercial decline, plus a clear roadmap to a unified town strategy by April 2026. The Irish proverb "Ni neart go cur le chéile" (There is no strength without unity) underscored the power of unity, with volunteer efforts scaling from events to town-wide projects.

Round-table discussions buzzed with energy as groups analyzed survey data—top attributes like beach, community, and history—and brainstormed ideas across music, film, festivals, crafts, and maritime heritage, producing invaluable input for YTCSG's plan. With 178 survey volunteers already signed up, the grassroots momentum is undeniable.

YTCSG is building serious traction, methodically shaping a strategy to attract funds and revitalise Youghal as a tourism and industry gem. The next pillar meeting is same time, same venue next Thursday—open to all.

Article by Michael Hussey

Pictures from the Youghal Town Centre Stakeholders Group, Pillar 4 meeting at the Walter Raleigh Hotel, Youghal, on Thursday, 27th November 2025. ... See MoreSee Less