Write to James Leavey

When you think of Ireland the image of the pub automatically springs to mind, whether you've had the pleasure of imbibing in one or not. It's an attractive fantasy of friendly laidback punters, mostly older men, with the occasional coleen in a hand-knitted shawl, sitting around a coal fire listening to fiddle-de-dee music, smoking and eating hot potatoes. The men will be discussing the finer points of W B Yeats, James Joyce, horse and dog racing, gaelic football and hurling, downing pints of porter while waiting for the newly poured Guinness to settle.

Somewhere nearby the Banshee wails and the Leprechauns weave their magic.

In reality, whether it's the craic (Irish for jollity) or the hot whiskey, the pub has long been the popular focal point of Irish social life, on both sides of the border. Things have changed in recent years - it is now enjoyed as much by the young as the old, and in some bars there are more women drinkers than men. Irish traditional music, once seen as a folksey relic is now trendy and attracts packed houses wherever it's played.

Indeed, the Irish pub is such a good idea that they've been exporting it very successfully over the last six years, lock, stock and beer barrel.

"There have been Irish pubs on the continent, particularly Germany, since the 1970s," said Stephen Lombard, retail development controller, Guinness Brewing Worldwide. "A lot of them were in a poor location with no budget. In the mid to late 1980s, the more successful pubs started reinvesting and a growing number of publicans from Ireland began moving into Europe because they could see the way the domestic market was going. By the end of that decade these pubs were moving very substantial volumes of beer."

Lombard's predecessor, John Gilmore, decided to put two people into the German market on a trial basis, in 1991. Their role was to help investors open Irish pubs in Germany, including finding sites, cutting through red tape, and advising on staffing, food, music - the whole works.

The concept was so successful that since 1992, over 800 Irish pubs have opened outside the Republic of Ireland. This year alone, one Irish pub will open somewhere around the world every day. The value of this business at retail level is over £300 million.

So why has the Irish pub become such a successful export? "There are a number of reasons," explained Lombard. "In the last six years or so, more and more tourists have come to Ireland and most of them rated going to an Irish pub as the highpoint of their visit.

" I believe the single most important factor was Ireland's success in world soccer. Suddenly you had hordes of Irish supporters roaming around Europe and people realised they weren't hooligans - they just had a good time, sang songs, drank gallons of beer and went home smiling.

"Then there's the effect of Irish music. Traditionally we had The Chieftains in the forefront but then U2, The Cranberries and Sinead O'Connor came along, breaking new ground and drawing attention to Ireland."

"More recently, the peace process in Northern Ireland has undoubtedly had a very positive effect on people's perceptions of Ireland."

According to the Guinness Irish Pub Concept, there are four key elements which make it so special: pub design and the ambience it creates, friendly efficient bar staff (Irish staff are renowned for their hospitalty, humour and more than a touch of the blarney), the unique appeal of Irish food and drink, and Irish music (sometimes live, always there).

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Italy's first Irish pub opened in 1992 after Carmelo Cartalemi, impressed by pubs in Ireland, turned a bar near Milan University into a Victorian pub. "We have a better relationship with customers than any I've known in 18 years in the trade," he said.

"The pub is friendly, relaxed, a core of regular customers just keep coming back. There's no comparing it with the bar that was here before." There are now over 100 Irish pubs in Italy, with more to follow.

Delaneys have opened two Irish pubs in Hong Kong in the last 18 months, and another recently in Bangkok. They're all thriving.

"A lot of the times foreign or outside concepts come into asia they are usually adapted to suit local tastes," said Ms Kashmira Jhaveri, Delaneys International, in Hong Kong. "We have kept everything as authentic as possible. For example, the food we have is purely traditional, such as Irish stew, and champ. The locals have also developed a taste for barm brack, potato farls and boxty.

"In Hong Kong, our customers are mainly ex-pats but the Chinese are really intrigued by draught Guinness. When they were first served big black thick liquid in a glass they didn't know what to do with it. Two Chinese girls ordered a pint each and when it arrived they asked for a straw to drink it with. Traditional Irish music goes down well. On Sunday afternoons there's a jam session with a mixture of Chinese, ex-pats and Irish musicians. The result is pretty good."

Experienced in Dublin pubs, John Sheehan commissioned his own architect to design a vast-ceilinged Victorian pub in Budapest, Hungary, incorporating a restaurant, bringing fittings and furniture direct from Ireland. Despite escalating inflation and excise duties turnover has climbed steadily and custom has shifted from tourists to locals.

"Normally, you start off with 80 per cent ex-pats and 20 per cent locals," said Stephen Lombard. By the end of the first year it is usually the other way round. I came back from Singapore, where Molly Malone's pub opened in November, and it's flying."

First it was the Irish writers, dramatists and poets who subtly changed the world we know, the best of whom include Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, WB Yeats, James Joyce, Sean O'Casey, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Peter Kavanagh, JP Donleavy and Seamus Heaney.

Then came the singers, songwriters and musicians, including John McCormack, Josef Locke, Jimmy Kennedy (who wrote Teddy Bear's Picnic and the novelty dance, the Hokey-Cokey), The Dubliners, James Galway, Van Morrison, Clannad, Enya, U2 and Bono, the Pogues, and the Eurovision Song Contest winners, Dana and Johnny Logan. The Chieftains influence on modern music over the last decade or so is widely acknowledged, by Kate Bush and the Rolling Stones, among others.

As well as the direct influence of Ireland's musicians, there's George Lowden, who started making his first guitars commercially in Newtonwards, County Down, in 1977.

Since then, Lowden guitars have become renowned for their unique tone and quality and are the prize possession of the world's greatest rock, folk and blues muisicians, including James Taylor, Mark Knopfler, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Ricky Skaggs, Pete Seeger and Elvis Costello.

The last few years have been phenomenal for Riverdance The Show which in its first nine months since its debut at The Point in Dublin in 1995 has taken the world by storm. It was developed from an original concept by Moya Doherty, which she created for the 1994 Eurovisian Song Contest held in Dublin. To date, the video has sold over one and a half million copies, Bill Whelan's Riverdance album went gold in the UK and double platinum in Eire.

Many years ago I was told by my Dublin-born grandmother that there's a little bit of Ireland in the hearts of all good men and women. Perhaps that explains why the best of Ireland's literature, drama, music, food, drink and lifestyle has been so readily adopted by the rest of the world.

Today, the unique (and usually smoky) atmosphere of an Irish pub can now be enjoyed in Moscow, Rome, Venice, New York, Paris and Lithuania.

Ah well, you can never have too much of a good thing.

For those of you who want to get into the spirit of Ireland, as the saying goes: Darken the door, light a light, and put a glass in our hand for the night and you'll be welcome in any Irish bar - bar none.

Copyright James Leavey, 1998. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the Author.