For Michael Farrell, that role is particularly familiar. He has been running his family pub, Farrell’s Summerfield Bar in Youghal, Co Cork, alongside his wife Annette since 1999, while also continuing a lifelong connection with farming.

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Before becoming a publican, farming was Michael’s full-time occupation. Having grown up around both farming and the family pub, agriculture was initially the direction he chose. After finishing school, he went to agricultural college and continued farming full time.

That changed when his mother decided to retire and sell the pub. Michael saw an opportunity to diversify and took over the business himself.

“I grew up here, so it wasn’t new to me.”

Farmer first

Despite moving into the pub trade, farming remained an important part of Michael’s life. He describes himself as “a farmer first” and has continued to farm alongside running the pub. Balancing the two, however, required some changes.

Initially farming suckler cows, Michael found that the demands of calving in the spring, followed closely by the pub’s busy summer season, became increasingly difficult to manage. With a young family at the time, something had to change.

He made the decision to move away from sucklers and into dry stock farming, which was less labour-intensive and allowed him to continue farming while also developing the pub.

“It’s like farming. It’s seven days a week, so it can be challenging at times,” Michael shares.

Moving with the times

Just as Michael adapted his farming enterprise, the pub also had to evolve. While its role as a meeting place within the community remains at its core, the way people use their local has changed over the years.

What was once predominantly a traditional local pub has expanded its offering, with Michael and his family investing in the outdoor area and gradually developing the beer garden. Their efforts have paid off, with the pub named best outside space in 2025, following a best party venue award in 2017.

Music, sport, parties and events have also become an increasingly important part of the business.

For Michael, rural pubs need to be able to cater for a broad customer base. Unlike businesses in larger urban centres that may be able to concentrate on one particular offering, he believes rural pubs often have to be “something for all people”.

Changing customer expectations have brought new opportunities too. Michael points to the growth of alcohol-free products, including Guinness 0.0, as one example of how the pub trade has adapted.

“Guinness zero is a big, big thing for us because it gives people an opportunity to go out and socialise,” he explains.

The pub now carries a range of alcohol-free options, reflecting changing habits and giving customers greater choice when visiting their local.

A focal point for rural life

For Michael, however, the importance of the rural pub goes far beyond what is served across the bar. “The pub is an integral part of the community, and people don’t realise it until it’s gone,” Michael adds.

That role can be seen across all stages of community life, from funerals and weddings to christenings and family gatherings. The customer base is equally diverse, bringing together farmers, local townspeople and visitors to the area.

In that sense, the rural pub can be an important part of the fabric of the community – providing a place for people to meet, connect and maintain the social ties that are so important in rural life.

For the farming community in particular, Michael believes the local pub provides something that can be difficult to replace. He regularly sees farmers coming through the doors and talking about everything from cattle prices to the challenges created by difficult weather.

For people who may spend much of their working day alone, having somewhere to meet others and have a face-to-face conversation can be particularly valuable.

“Without the pub, people don’t have a focal point to go to,” Michael says, adding that “a problem shared is a problem halved”.

Looking to the future

It is a role recognised by the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI). Eoin Lyons of the VFI says that while pubs continue to evolve through new activities, event spaces and alcohol-free options, retaining their traditional role remains important.

“It’s great to see that pubs are innovating, evolving, but not losing that kind of pure sense of what the Irish pub is,” Eoin adds. Michael’s story reflects the changing role of the rural pub: a business that has to adapt to survive, but whose value to the community goes well beyond what happens across the bar. For farmers, families, visitors and local organisations, it remains one of the places where rural life happens — making its future closely tied to the future of the community around it.

Join us at the Ploughing for The Importance of the Rural Pub to Community Life, a panel discussion on the role rural pubs play in supporting local communities, at the Irish Farmers Journal stand on 15 September (12-12.45pm) and 16 September (11.45am-12.30pm).