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reprint or license thisRoofs woven into history
By ELAINE D’AURIZIO The (Hackensack) Record
The furniture is being shipped in from the Emerald Isle. There will be plenty of Guinness stout and shepherd’s pie. But Brendan Madden and Aiden Downey wanted a real Irish pub.
“What could stand out more as authentic and different than a thatched roof?” said Madden, part-owner of their new restaurant/bar. “What we’re striving for is getting a feel of being in another country.”
The thatched roof on the pub, which recently opened in Pompton Lakes, N.J., should put you right into Ireland.
It’s also turning out to be much more special than Madden and partner Aiden Downey anticipated: It’s one of just two pubs in the United States with an authentic thatched roof. The other is Four Green Fields in Tampa, Fla.
Imitation thatched roofs, made with synthetic materials, are nothing new. But that wouldn’t do for Madden and Downey. This roof is the real McCoy, just like ones on the quaint, whimsical cottages that dot the British and Irish landscapes.
An ancient art, thatching uses vegetation — reeds, straw and sometimes waterproofed leaves. Weaving them into tight layers — about 12 inches thick — takes a couple of weeks, and the proprietors hired master thatcher, (a bona fide and prestigious title) Colin McGhee.
In fact, they did more than hire McGhee. They liked his name so much, the men borrowed it as the moniker for their new pub and restaurant, Thatcher McGhee.
McGhee apprenticed with a master for five years before earning the title. He immigrated to the United States in 1991 in hopes of reviving the art of thatching, which in the United States dates to the Native Americans and early settlers. As one of just two professional thatchers in the country, he has been busy ever since,
The demand has been great and diverse: Hollywood movie sets, theme parks, private residences. McGhee also has designed roofs for the Bronx Zoo and the Jamestown Historical Settlement.
For the pub, McGhee is making a scallop or half-circle pattern out of 600 bundles, or 1 1/2 acres, of reed.
“It’s a traditional pattern,” he said.
The cost, he said, is about 10 times that of a regular roof, For example, a roof McGhee did in Indiana cost $160,000. The Thatcher McGhee’s roof is costing $30,000.
But those who want one said thatched roofs are well worth their cost — and for more reasons than their visual appeal. For one thing, they’re weather resistant and easy to repair, by putting a fresh layer of thatch on top of the original layer.
“It’s incredible insulation,” McGhee said. “It’s cool in summer and warm in the winter. The heat rises inside, and it doesn’t go anywhere. ... There’s nowhere for it to escape.”
Thatching also increases the value of a house, said McGhee, whose company, McGhee and Co. Roof Thatchers, is in Staunton, Va.
He cites a developer in Duchess County, N.Y., who loves thatched roofs and had McGhee make them for nine English-style homes built around a golf course. “They sold for a couple of million dollars each,” McGhee said.
The first question Madden asked McGhee was when he would have to replace the roof.
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be dead,”’ Madden said.
“If the material is good and it’s done properly, they can last 50 or 60 years,” McGhee said.
Thatched roofs have origins rooted in antiquity when, McGhee said, “People used what was around them in the country.”
Now when roofing materials can be shipped in from anywhere in the world, handmade thatched roofs are still being sought.
The Irish government is so serious about preserving the craft as a tradition that it has a program to teach thatching, like the one in England where McGhee studied.
“There’s a cultural push to encourage things Irish,” Downey said.
That includes step-dancing, which the proprietors, both in their 30s, plan to feature at the pub from time to time.
Also authentically Irish is a small corner “snug,” as they’re called in Ireland. Built in a corner in the bar room, this snug is intended to be a hideaway from the noise in the bar room and restaurant. They came about to accommodate women when they weren’t allowed to drink at the bar.
“The snug is made to resemble a small Irish cottage with a thatched roof and real Irish fixtures ... it seats from 10 to 12 people,” Madden said. “If they want a quiet spot on a date or for a small party of four, they can have it in there. The heavy ceiling beams have been reclaimed from a turn-of-the-century barn, and there are old Dublin pub benches.”
The large oak bar will be distressed for authenticity. The dining room can seat 60 to 70 people, with another 40 at the bar.
As Madden speaks, a trailer of Irish antiques pulls into the parking lot. Visitors pop in and out of the pub — some own pubs where Madden and Downey worked — while workmen hammer away.
“The town and its officials have been great to us,” Madden said. “They drop in, too.”
Downey was raised in Galway in the west of Ireland before immigrating to the United States 16 years ago. Madden’s father and wife come from the same county in Ireland as Downey.
“My mother grew up in a thatched cottage,” Madden said, and his father owned pubs in Queens, N.Y., then the Porterhouse in Montvale, N.J., and the Black Horse in Kenilworth.
Both men have worked for Irish pubs since they were young.
“We’re family-oriented guys who know the business,” Madden said.
And knowing that business includes knowing the value of a thatched roof and treating customers well.
“If you go into an Irish pub and feel welcome and comfortable, it’s a great Irish pub,” Madden said. “If you do the right thing, they’ll come to you.”
