The Thatch, Crinkill
Military Road, Ballinree, Crinkill, Birr, Co. Offaly
About
Two kilometres south of Birr in the village of Crinkill, and worth the short drive. The Thatch says it has been in the same family for close to two hundred years and older locals still call it Mother Walsh's. It has always been thatched. A restaurant was added in 1995 and it is now the pub in the area with the serious kitchen, run by executive head chef Tom Egan. Crinkill itself is not an accident of geography: the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment had its home depot at Crinkill Barracks, built in 1809 and burnt in 1922, and the village grew around it. Note the opening pattern, which is narrow: closed Tuesdays, bar only on Monday nights, and Sunday service in set sittings.
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