But I hope it doesn’t change too much.

I’ve seen that place go through many incarnations over the years.
But but this was the best one.

The first being a natural haven for the Irish, and others that will come once a critical mass of regular foreigners/those that appreciate some Irish banter has built up. This mainly benefits the local longer term population

The second being somewhat a McDonalds factor. If it’s an Irish bar you’re pretty sure what you’re going to get when you walk in the front door. This benefits the transient population a lot. A hotel bar but not in a hotel and not personality-less like hotel bars tend to be.

A third target group are the longer term expats who want a taste of home but who are not necessarily in social groups with other expats (or infact want a break from them) - probably falling between the above two categories.

I sometimes went to The Tin Whistle for Matt, Eddie and Eamon, and sometimes because I wanted a cooked breakfast and draft beer when I was downtown. Regular visitation never happened because I lived too far away. I’d be interested to see any record of the demographics of the Tin Whistle - what grouping of people bought the most. It’s also a bar which did little promotion other than a couple of regular events that were only spread by local word-of-mouth; I think there remains a lot of potential for it as a business, and I think they’ve sold it to the right sort of person for that.

But without Matt, Eddie, Eamon and Sophia working the bar, it will be different. I wonder what the Irish Footie guys make of it - that may be the test.