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Patrick and Margaret Quinn celebrate their award |
Three cheers for Pat and Margaret!
Veterans receive lifetime award for years running successful Camden Town pub institution
A HUSBAND and wife team who run one of Camden Town’s best-known pubs were given a lifetime achievement award at the annual ball for the borough’s bartenders.
Patrick and Margaret Quinn, who have run Quinn’s in Kentish Town Road for 20 years, were given a standing ovation by their fellow landlords at the Irish Centre last Thursday.
The event, organised by the Camden Inner London Licensees Association, known as the “Cilla Ball”, lets pint-pullers spend a night on the other side of the bar.
And they know how to party: there was no shortage of takers on the dance floor.
Speaking afterwards, Mr and Mrs Quinn said receiving the award in the middle of the celebrations had been a complete surprise – one minute they were sitting down having their meal and the next everyone was standing up and clapping.
“I didn’t know anything about it at all, didn’t have a clue,” said Margaret.
But the pair, a familiar sight on the dance floor when the more traditional Irish songs are played, were modest about their award and paid tribute to their “first-class” customers.
And what’s the secret to running one of the best pubs in Camden for 20 years? “You’ll always get customers in a house that has good service and good beer,” according to Margaret.
Pat said that keeping troublemakers out was also important. And how does the veteran publican, who has run pubs across London and been married for 50 years, do that? “That’s a secret of the trade,” he said.
Last year another popular pub landlord, Alo Conlon of the Dublin Castle, also in Camden Town, won a lifetime achievement award.
He has since died and thousands mourned his passing.
Cilla is a group of publicans who meets every month to discuss issues facing pubs, bars and clubs in Camden and host the ball to raise money for charity, including a project that funds trips home for men from the Arlington House homeless hostel. |
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