Intrepid trio want to turn former pig house into pub with free beer!

The trio are fundraising online to renovate a disused pig barn at Kylebrack near Loughrea, to turn it into a watering hole serving free organic booze.  But there’ll be much more than gratis homemade beer and wine on offer at The Happy Pig.

For one thing, the ‘pub talk’ should be much more highbrow than your regular local – the proprietors say they will also be offering free food, free education, free accommodation and free thinking.

The establishment is a base for a whole new lifestyle choice, a utopia of sorts, for the permaculture phenomenon, which is described as the development of agriculture ecosystems intended to be self-sufficient and sustainable.

Tom Smith (Tipperary), Mark Boyle (Donegal), known as the ‘Moneyless Man’ who famously lived for two and a half years without money, and Jess Pasteiner (London) are the ‘gift-economy’ enthusiasts, who say there ‘passion is for free’.

The three friends live in an adjacent house, An Teach Saor (Gaeilge for The Free House), which they describe as a “permaculture and gift-economy based small holding in the West of Ireland”.

They are using the internet crowd surfing method of raising around €10,000 to convert the pigs shed into a bar/restaurant/hostel/college that will be free to the public. 

They have called this ‘Freeconomy’ haven The Happy Pig, a three acres plot where everyone can discover “our inner happy pigs”.

According to Tom Smith the name derived from the saying, ‘would you rather be a happy pig or a miserable philosopher’.

He explained that the money will be used to gut the pig barn and refit it with a new roof and ceiling, straw bale walls, a wood-burner, beds, seating, tables, lighting and of course a bar made out of a local sawmill.

Donations can be made at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/thehappypig

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.