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Tigh Neachtain’s – Cross Street, Galway City
Jimmy Maguire, the soft-spoken owner of Tigh Neachtain, says his pub is the oldest in Galway City. He believes it formed part of a medieval townhouse built by the family of Humanity Dick Martin. Jimmy is passionate about history. He tells the tale of Captain Thomas Poppleton, who attempted to liberate Napoleon from captivity, and assures his customers that Poppleton took the French Emperor into Neachtain’s for a secret pint on his way to St Helena. In fact, he blinks, Christopher Columbus most probably drank a rum here when he was on his way to the New World.