Vintage transport museum runs out of steam as Ramble Inn owners bow out

The landmark bar and vintage machinery museum, which is situated under the watchful eye of an impressive 1850s rail viaduct, is up for sale, on two acres by the main West Cork N71 route, just 10km from the city.

Owners Alan and Mary Barry are calling time on the bar business, and the property melange, after 43 years at the bar taps, having hosted an eclectic transport museum, the Halfway Vintage Club, as well as vintage rallies from this Ballinhassig base for several decades.

“Everything has its time, we’ve had a full life here,” they say philosophically (and, somewhat ironically, given the hold they had here of displays of old machinery and farm engines) as they end a long licensed trade at the Ramble Inn.

A residential licensed premises, it’s likely to date to the 1800s and with property deeds unearthed to 1709 related to then-landowner Sir Thomas Barter, a family that had vast estates stretching back to Kinsale from Ballinhassig and Macroom.

With their own family of four reared, plus grandchildren arrived, they are looking to future years of retirement with anticipation, saying they enjoyed the business “through good year and lean years”, as well as all of the characters they served and the rallies they hosted for vintage enthusiasts.

Now running out of steam, the open-air museum, with display sheds, had an eclectic mix of metal and mechanicals that moved on wheels, and then ground to a halt.

Appropriately enough, it included rail memorabilia and former rolling stock, given Halfway’s proximity to a Victorian-era engineering triumph, the rail line through a tunnel and viaduct at Ballinhassig, just west of the city, suburbs and airport, en route to Kinsale and to points further west.

Mary is a Ballinhassig native, Alan Barry hailed from nearby Carrigaline and had his own transport, plant and small haulage business, Barry Transport. The couple decided to diversify into the bar trade almost 44 years ago at the aptly named Ramble Inn, where previous owners had included the Sullivan and Hanely families.

The Barrys later bought additional land to the back, to now own two acres plus the business/property, while the road through Ballinhasig’s Halfway village was bypassed over 20 years ago when a new roundabout was created on the N71 with roads off to Crossbarry, Innishannon and Bandon and to Kinsale. This reordering opened up views to the back of the Barry’s static transport fleet and sheds, while the bar itself is also as rich in memorabilia and mementos.

The two-acre property is now for sale, appropriately listed with a suitably veteran auctioneer himself, Maurice Cohalan, and Rob Coughlan, of Cohalan Downing, who price it at €1m, and say it’s open to a variety of uses, most likely with a commercial core, given its proximity to a transport hub of sorts at the Halfway roundabout.

“It has unquestionable profile and future potential,” says Mr Cohalan, noting that most of the two acres is within the development boundary of Halfway (as designated under the Cork County Development Plan 2022-2028), where an objective is to encourage the construction of up to 10 more houses up to 2028.

Halfway had 60 houses delivered in a cluster called An Bruach, which included duplex homes, done by a company, Gable Holding, in the early 2000s.

The sale includes a three-bed licensed premises (with commercial kitchen) “rich in character and charm, ready for a next generation of operator, while the adjoining lands offer immediate potential for a variety of uses due to their unrivalled profile of over 110 metres to the N71 Bandon Road”, add the selling agents.

DETAILS: Cohalan Downing 021-4277717

Pictures : H-Pix