Brendan Gleeson's Farewell to Hughes's

IRELAND - 60 mins - 2023 DCP

Directed by Ciarán Ó Maonaigh  

Produced by Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, Brendan Gleeson and Liam O’Connor

Presented by Brendan Gleeson 

After it closes its doors for the final time, actor Brendan Gleeson explores the legacy of Hughes’s — an unassuming Dublin pub that’s made a lasting contribution to traditional music in Ireland.

To some it was an unassuming pub on a side street in Dublin’s city centre. To musicians, dancers, singers and listeners, Hughes’s was a mecca of traditional Irish music for more than 35 years. Oscar-nominated actor Brendan Gleeson played his fiddle there often. It was a kind of hideout for him — its music providing a blanket of escape.

In 2021 Hughes’s pub closed its doors for the last time following the death of its owner. In this film, Gleeson interviews musicians, dancers, singers and listeners to tell the story of the unassuming pub and its lasting contribution to traditional music in both Dublin and Ireland at large.

Though it’s been around for centuries, traditional Irish music is reaching levels of popularity it never has before. In the midst of this musical renaissance, the story of Hughes’s is a genuine representation of traditional Irish music sessions and those involved in them.