Islington Tribune - News: Drinkers toast Mother's facelift

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Islington Tribune - by TONY KIELY
Published: 11 May 2007

Red Cap owners Helen and Peter Phelan with John Finn.

Drinkers toast Mother’s facelift

THERE was a smell of fresh varnish in the air – and a sense of relief – when Holloway’s famous Mother Red Cap pub re-opened last week after a two-week renovation.
The Holloway Road pub, which dates from the late 1800s, has undergone a £50,000 facelift.
The pub’s interior, with its listed Victorian mirrors and tiling, was sympathetically restored.
A taste of the pub’s age was revealed by the discovery of a 1963 edition of the Morning Advertiser, the publican’s newspaper, when the old bar was removed.
Owners Peter and Helen Phelan were joined by their family and regulars for the re-opening night celebrations last Thursday.
Surveying the pub, one drinker joked: “It’s a bit like Elizabeth Taylor’s last facelift – you know it looks a bit different and some things have been replaced, but it still feels the same.”
The evening was made particularly memorable for the Phelans when their middle daughter, Shibhéal, arrived in Red Caps and announced that her boyfriend, Liam Connolly, had just become her fiancé. A long, double-celebration ensued.

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