Jimmy

Jimmy was born in Belfast in 1939. 

He went to a tough school run by 'The Christian brothers'. He said the worst part was going home as a 14-year-old with swollen hands from a caning and getting a slap from his mum because 'Those priests must've had a good reason for hitting you.'

He left school at 15 and worked as a labourer. There wasn't a lot of money in Belfast, so at 18, he decided to move to London. His Uncle Huey took him to the docks to see him off. As Jimmy boarded the boat, his uncle said, 'You'll be back in a couple of weeks - you'll get your fill of Pagan England and the foods no good - you'll be back alright.' Jimmy admitted he got very homesick and if his uncle hadn't said that, he probably would’ve come back but stayed to prove him wrong. Looking back on it, he thinks his uncle was perhaps doing a bit of reverse psychology. 

Jimmy had a friend called 'Big Finn Mulligan' who knew of digs in the Caledonian Road. Jimmy shared a single room with 3 other men and continued to work as a labourer but earned enough to send money home each week to his mum. After 3 years, someone asked if he’d help out behind the bar of Shamrock Pub in the city (since demolished). Jimmy loved it - his career as a publican had begun.

He started as a barman and then became a manager and, at 22, got his first pub - The Champion in Wells Street just north of Oxford Street. Jimmy met his future wife in the bar. She was a nurse from County Meath and he said meeting her was just like the Frank Sinatra song 'Some Enchanted Evening' - 

Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger,

You may see a stranger across a crowded room,

And somehow you know, you gonna know even then,

That somehow you'll see her again and again.

Some enchanted evening, someone may be laughing,

You may hear her laughing across a crowded room,

And night after night, as strange as it seems,

The sound of her laughter will sing in all your dreams.

They married in Laytown, County Meath in The Irish Republic. Jimmy's friends crossed the border from Belfast to attend the wedding. After a few drinks, there was a punch-up at the reception between the locals and Jimmy's mates, who were accused of being Orange Men - this made no sense as they were all Catholic. 12 were arrested. Fortunately, Jimmy had already left for his honeymoon in Cork.

They had 3 kids and the family have always remained close.

Every week, Jimmy, his kids, 4 grandkids and great-granddaughter get together for Sunday lunch. 

It's something they always did when Jimmy's wife was alive. Sadly, after 52 years of marriage, she passed away in 2015 from lung cancer. 

Jimmy is 81 now and looks good for his age. He said, "I have all my own 'Hampsteads' and my own 'Barnet'."

He goes back to Ireland on holiday, but his home is London. Jimmy told me that the whole time he's lived in the Capital, he never received any prejudice or racism. He knows that it has happened to other members of the Irish community, but he personally has never experienced it. 

Jimmy loves running pubs. He has 3 now. The one we met in is right in the middle of Hampstead, and famous writers, actors and musicians have drunk there. Jimmy has their pictures up on the walls. From George Orwell to Mick Jagger to Dame Judy Dench to Harold Pinter and Robert Louis Stevenson. 

Jimmy's love of being a landlord must be infectious because his eldest son and his daughter now run their own pubs too.

Jimmy's done well for the son of a labourer from a tough working-class area known as The Market - in Jimmy's words, 'It was the Ghetto of Belfast.' 

He always remembered his mum saying she wished they could get out of the slums and move up to The Cavehill Road, where it was much posher. So years later, as a surprise, Jimmy and his brothers clubbed together and bought her a house there. 

They made her dreams come true, and she absolutely hated it. She said the people were too snobby and desperately missed the community back at The Market. So she moved back to her original house in 'The Ghetto.'

Years ago, Peter O'Tooles' mum would come into a pub that Jimmy ran off Baker Street. She was an unassuming old lady with a small dog. She would quietly sit in the corner, drinking a bottle of Guinness and minding her own business. One day, a very theatrical type came into the bar. He was flamboyant and loud as he ordered his drink, and Jimmy asked him what he did for a living. "I'm an actor, of course," replied the man, "I've been on the television."

Jimmy said, "That lady over there, her son is an actor too." The man looked over at the little old lady with her Guinness and said rather patronisingly, "Really? Has your boy been in anything?' she replied, "He was in a film called Lawrence of Arabia." 

The man asked, "But did he have a speaking part?" the old lady replied, "Oh yes, dear, he played Lawrence."