In 2014, Donegal native Aaron Slevin was living in Australia when he received the sad news that his father, John, had passed away. He had been in Sydney for several years and had met his future wife, Megan, on a night out.
Despite having built a life and career on the other side of the world – and despite Megan, an American, having never set foot on Irish soil – the pair made the decision to put down roots in rural Ireland and take on the family business: the iconic Biddy’s O’Barnes Pub, in Barnesmore Gap.
Located near Donegal’s Blue Stack Mountains, the pub dates back to 1870. It started out as an inn, operated by Denis and Bridget (Biddy) Callaghan, and in 1903, it became one of the first licensed pubs in the country.
“There is plenty of local lore about the pub,” Megan says. “But one story tells us that Biddy ran a kind of ‘shebeen’ style inn where you could get a drink. [Barnesmore Gap] carries a strange force – it has its own magnetic pull, if you know what I mean.
“Back in the day, it used to be famous for highwaymen. The story goes that a lawman came to the inn and experienced great hospitality – in return, he promised to provide them with a liquor license.
“Biddy’s family ran the pub for three or four generations and there is a strong tradition of women running it, which I love,” she continues.
“My husband’s family bought the pub in 1990, and while we have no family ties with the Callaghans, it’s so important to respect this history.”
In 1870 Denis (born 1826) and Bridget aka Biddy (Tower or Travers) Callaghan established an Inn at the foothills of the Blue Stack Mountains. \Biddy’s O’Barne’s
Coming home
Megan and Aaron have now been operating Biddy’s O’Barnes for over a decade. Megan’s background is in marketing, but she held jobs in hospitality prior to moving to Australia and always enjoyed working with food and beverage start-ups.
“I worked in an Irish-style restaurant [in the States] during college,” she recalls, laughing. “I distinctly remember the Irish manager giving everyone a very in-depth tutorial on how to pour Guinness – he was not impressed with how people were just straight pouring.
“One of my first jobs out of college was working with a microbrewery in Utah,” she continues. “And I loved it. I realised I enjoyed working with people who took a chance and started their own business. People like that really know how to ‘grind’ and they love what they do.”
At this time, social media marketing was just beginning to take off for small businesses. Megan moved to Australia with a one-year working holiday visa and thought she would be home within six months. As she started teaching about the importance of social media, her employers sponsored her to stay. What was intended as a six-month working holiday became five years of career-building.
“Then, I met my husband Aaron in a pub, as you do,” she says drily. “We got married eight months after we started dating. We were married in December and in February his father passed away, which was really sad. I knew Aaron would be going back to run the pub, so for me, it was a matter of ‘I love you, let’s get married and make it easy for me to come along and support you.’”
The move to Ireland was not without its complications, and Megan also experienced the sudden loss of her stepfather. She spent three months in the United States with her mother while Aaron organised their move to Ireland. Once settled, they operated the Biddy’s as the traditional pub it has always been.
Aside from their usual local trade, the pub was also a popular stopping-off-point for hen and stag parties, taking in up to 30 party buses on weekends. During this time, Aaron and Megan settled into the community and welcomed their two children: Eddie (9) and Cami (6).
“We took over the pub in November of 2015,” Megan recalls. “When we first met, I asked Aaron what his parents did, and he said they ran a ‘little country pub’. I had never been to Ireland and didn’t really understand what that meant. To me, a ‘little country pub’ was a pub in a tiny village with one guy behind the bar, but Biddy’s has always been more of a historic landmark. So, I felt a bit of pressure coming in, especially as an American – I remember thinking, ‘Don’t mess this up. Don’t be that American from The Field!’”
Local chefs Chris McMenamin and Colin McKee, who now work together to manage the restaurant kitchen.
Time to change
But locals quickly warmed to Megan and her friendly personality. If they saw fresh paint on the walls or things moved around, the running joke became “that American is at it again!”
Jokes aside, though, Aaron and Megan knew they would have to make significant changes to the pub to keep their business viable into the future. The COVID-19 lockdown provided them the time and space to transform Biddy’s into the award-winning gastropub that it is today.
“COVID-19 gave us an opportunity,” Megan explains. “We were shut down. We had a staff member who worked in the bar but was a trained chef – we asked her to come out of ‘retirement’ and help us develop a basic menu. We met the local fishmonger and butcher and asked for good quality, local ingredients. We started a small menu alongside our soup and toasties, which we had always done.
“But we had to learn the restaurant business,” she adds. “I attended an online hospitality conference during lockdown and in the chatbox I asked: ‘Does anyone know where we can get a chef?’ Someone recommended a local, Chris McMenamin, who came with his sous chef, Colin McKee.
“We showed them our plans and the concept, which was simply local food done well. They had a think and then called and said, ‘How would you feel if we came over as your head chefs?’ It was a good time for them to take on this project, and we were ready to give them carte blanche,” says Megan.
“We went out on a limb and could have ruined the pub trade we already had. We had to let go of a bit – we cut down the amount of hens and stags because we just didn’t have the space anymore. But it has worked out, and we are so appreciative of the local support.”
With their many successes, these post-COVID years have been challenging. Aaron and Megan’s biggest concern is, and always will be, finding and retaining staff.
The chefs have developed a menu which heavily features local meat, fish and produce.
Having such a storied past, it is wonderful to see a rural pub like Biddy’s O’Barnes enjoying a bountiful present and a bright future – especially with the increasing number of rural pubs closing their doors for good.
Last July, Megan and Aaron launched a new branch of business, transforming an old byre into a craft and coffee shop. As planning goes in for a new greenway in Donegal, Megan hopes Biddy’s will become the trailhead and the Byre at Biddy’s will support those on their journeys.
“We have more to do, for sure,” she says, smiling. “The products we sell at the Byre at Biddy’s are 80-85% made in Donegal.Our coffee is from a local roastery New Kid Coffee Roasters and our milk is from a local farmer, Shannon [owner of The Milk Bar]. As the greenway develops, we will look to expand that operation with more takeaway and grab-and-go options. It’s an exciting time.”
See biddysobarnes.com
In 2014, Donegal native Aaron Slevin was living in Australia when he received the sad news that his father, John, had passed away. He had been in Sydney for several years and had met his future wife, Megan, on a night out.
Despite having built a life and career on the other side of the world – and despite Megan, an American, having never set foot on Irish soil – the pair made the decision to put down roots in rural Ireland and take on the family business: the iconic Biddy’s O’Barnes Pub, in Barnesmore Gap.
Located near Donegal’s Blue Stack Mountains, the pub dates back to 1870. It started out as an inn, operated by Denis and Bridget (Biddy) Callaghan, and in 1903, it became one of the first licensed pubs in the country.
“There is plenty of local lore about the pub,” Megan says. “But one story tells us that Biddy ran a kind of ‘shebeen’ style inn where you could get a drink. [Barnesmore Gap] carries a strange force – it has its own magnetic pull, if you know what I mean.
“Back in the day, it used to be famous for highwaymen. The story goes that a lawman came to the inn and experienced great hospitality – in return, he promised to provide them with a liquor license.
“Biddy’s family ran the pub for three or four generations and there is a strong tradition of women running it, which I love,” she continues.
“My husband’s family bought the pub in 1990, and while we have no family ties with the Callaghans, it’s so important to respect this history.”
In 1870 Denis (born 1826) and Bridget aka Biddy (Tower or Travers) Callaghan established an Inn at the foothills of the Blue Stack Mountains. \Biddy’s O’Barne’s
Coming home
Megan and Aaron have now been operating Biddy’s O’Barnes for over a decade. Megan’s background is in marketing, but she held jobs in hospitality prior to moving to Australia and always enjoyed working with food and beverage start-ups.
“I worked in an Irish-style restaurant [in the States] during college,” she recalls, laughing. “I distinctly remember the Irish manager giving everyone a very in-depth tutorial on how to pour Guinness – he was not impressed with how people were just straight pouring.
“One of my first jobs out of college was working with a microbrewery in Utah,” she continues. “And I loved it. I realised I enjoyed working with people who took a chance and started their own business. People like that really know how to ‘grind’ and they love what they do.”
At this time, social media marketing was just beginning to take off for small businesses. Megan moved to Australia with a one-year working holiday visa and thought she would be home within six months. As she started teaching about the importance of social media, her employers sponsored her to stay. What was intended as a six-month working holiday became five years of career-building.
“Then, I met my husband Aaron in a pub, as you do,” she says drily. “We got married eight months after we started dating. We were married in December and in February his father passed away, which was really sad. I knew Aaron would be going back to run the pub, so for me, it was a matter of ‘I love you, let’s get married and make it easy for me to come along and support you.’”
The move to Ireland was not without its complications, and Megan also experienced the sudden loss of her stepfather. She spent three months in the United States with her mother while Aaron organised their move to Ireland. Once settled, they operated the Biddy’s as the traditional pub it has always been.
Aside from their usual local trade, the pub was also a popular stopping-off-point for hen and stag parties, taking in up to 30 party buses on weekends. During this time, Aaron and Megan settled into the community and welcomed their two children: Eddie (9) and Cami (6).
“We took over the pub in November of 2015,” Megan recalls. “When we first met, I asked Aaron what his parents did, and he said they ran a ‘little country pub’. I had never been to Ireland and didn’t really understand what that meant. To me, a ‘little country pub’ was a pub in a tiny village with one guy behind the bar, but Biddy’s has always been more of a historic landmark. So, I felt a bit of pressure coming in, especially as an American – I remember thinking, ‘Don’t mess this up. Don’t be that American from The Field!’”
Local chefs Chris McMenamin and Colin McKee, who now work together to manage the restaurant kitchen.
Time to change
But locals quickly warmed to Megan and her friendly personality. If they saw fresh paint on the walls or things moved around, the running joke became “that American is at it again!”
Jokes aside, though, Aaron and Megan knew they would have to make significant changes to the pub to keep their business viable into the future. The COVID-19 lockdown provided them the time and space to transform Biddy’s into the award-winning gastropub that it is today.
“COVID-19 gave us an opportunity,” Megan explains. “We were shut down. We had a staff member who worked in the bar but was a trained chef – we asked her to come out of ‘retirement’ and help us develop a basic menu. We met the local fishmonger and butcher and asked for good quality, local ingredients. We started a small menu alongside our soup and toasties, which we had always done.
“But we had to learn the restaurant business,” she adds. “I attended an online hospitality conference during lockdown and in the chatbox I asked: ‘Does anyone know where we can get a chef?’ Someone recommended a local, Chris McMenamin, who came with his sous chef, Colin McKee.
“We showed them our plans and the concept, which was simply local food done well. They had a think and then called and said, ‘How would you feel if we came over as your head chefs?’ It was a good time for them to take on this project, and we were ready to give them carte blanche,” says Megan.
“We went out on a limb and could have ruined the pub trade we already had. We had to let go of a bit – we cut down the amount of hens and stags because we just didn’t have the space anymore. But it has worked out, and we are so appreciative of the local support.”
With their many successes, these post-COVID years have been challenging. Aaron and Megan’s biggest concern is, and always will be, finding and retaining staff.
The chefs have developed a menu which heavily features local meat, fish and produce.
Having such a storied past, it is wonderful to see a rural pub like Biddy’s O’Barnes enjoying a bountiful present and a bright future – especially with the increasing number of rural pubs closing their doors for good.
Last July, Megan and Aaron launched a new branch of business, transforming an old byre into a craft and coffee shop. As planning goes in for a new greenway in Donegal, Megan hopes Biddy’s will become the trailhead and the Byre at Biddy’s will support those on their journeys.
“We have more to do, for sure,” she says, smiling. “The products we sell at the Byre at Biddy’s are 80-85% made in Donegal.Our coffee is from a local roastery New Kid Coffee Roasters and our milk is from a local farmer, Shannon [owner of The Milk Bar]. As the greenway develops, we will look to expand that operation with more takeaway and grab-and-go options. It’s an exciting time.”
See biddysobarnes.com
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