Quiet Man Pub To Get Its Proper Home At Last
Monday 29th November 2004

The pub that featured in The Quiet Man film - shot in Ireland in 1951 - is being shipped from Hollywood to be re-built as a tourist attraction.

Pat Cohan's in Cong, Co Mayo, was actually a shop in real life but director John Ford converted it into a bar for the Oscarwinning film starring John Wayne.

Interior pub scenes were cleverly shot in a Hollywood studio and the props and fittings have been lying in a dusty warehouse for over 50 years.

Now, film devotees in The Quiet Man Movie Club in Ireland are transporting the pub back bit by bit and aim have it open for business next year.

"Tourists who came to visit where the film was shot were always disappointed when they heard the pub didn't actually exist in real life," said Paddy Rock, who runs popular tours of the film's West of Ireland locations.

"Now they will be able to have a drink just like John Wayne did in the film or listen to some traditional music or browse the souvenirs," he added.

The Quiet Man tells the story of US prizefighter Jack Thornton (Wayne) who returns to his roots in Ireland and falls in love with the fiery redhead, Mary Kate Danaher, played by Irish actress Maureen O'Hara.

Pat Cohan's pub features prominently in the film, and its owner, Cong-native Jack Murphy, who also was an extra in the film, spent his last day behind the shop counter in September and workmen have now moved in.

Jack, 74, has handed the property over to his nephew, John Connolly.

Work on the conversion is going well and the new Quiet Man pub is due to officially open in June to mark the 52nd anniversary of the