Bronx Pub open every day for 45 years
-
(USA)
The Jolly Tinker has served up pints in Bedford Park for an impressive 16,433 days - and counting
Michael Prendergast Jr. sits at the bar in the Jolly Tinker. Prendergast's father opened the establishment in 1969.
Here’s a Bronx milestone that would make the great Lou Gehrig proud. Babe Ruth would be pretty buzzed, too.
The Jolly Tinker in Bedford Park is about to celebrate its 45th birthday.
Gehrig, it will be recalled, played in 2,130 consecutive games for the Bronx Bombers. That makes the Jolly Tinker the Iron Horse of Irish pubs.
The proud Prendergast family, which has owned the watering hole the entire time, says it has been open 16,433 consecutive days — and counting.
That includes Christmases, blackouts, blizzards, births, deaths, riots and more.
“We had a fire in 1985 and even then we were able to reopen half a day later,” said Michael Prendergast Jr., 48, who claims the Tinker is also the only bar in the Bronx to be owned by a single family for all these years.
With the exception of the Yankee Tavern, which opened in 1928, it’s also the oldest bar, period.
Since opening its doors on Feb. 8, 1969, beer and spirits have flowed every single day without fail, seven days a week, from 8 a.m. until 4 a.m.
And the bar doesn’t shy away from its age.
The wood and stone walls are seemingly held up by relics of Bronx and Irish history, police and fire fighter memorabilia, and photographs from earlier times.
“It doesn’t look like the ritziest place in the world,” said second generation regular Cunningham McKillop, 42. “But it’s the people that make it what it is.”
The Jolly Tinker in Bedford Park will celebrate 45 years of serving up Guinness and good times to Bronx residents.
And, McKillop said, the Prendergasts have made the bar a home away from home for so many faithful patrons.
Michael Prendergast Sr., a retired firefighter who emigrated from County Waterford in Ireland, opened the bar at 2875 Webster Ave. back when the Bedford area was ripe with many of his thirsty fellow countrymen.
His wife, Mary, decided the place should be named after one of her favorite Clancy Brothers tunes.
The bar quickly became a meeting place for transplants from the Emerald Isle in an area that was so saturated with the Irish in the 1980s that it was often called “Little Belfast.”
While many of the blue collar bars in the Bedford and Norwood areas — such as Gorman’s and McMahon’s — have shuttered, the Tinker has held on.
“It's a family business and that’s a dying breed,” the younger Prendergast said.
And the kegs won’t be running dry any time soon.
Fordham students, cops and firefighters from the nearby stations, and a bevy of local characters, still call the corner bar home.
“We see the sons and daughters of our original customers mixing with students from Fordham,” Prendergast said. “It’s been quite an achievement.”
The second generation publican said the bar will host a birthday bash this Saturday featuring a mix of live music, drink specials and a special Bronx trivia game with prizes.
“All are welcome,” Prendergast said. “We’re going to get together and pay tribute to those who have made this place what it is.”
-
Wow~~~
wind rain no change sia...