(USA)
Here’s a Bronx milestone that would make the great Lou Gehrig
proud. Babe Ruth would be pretty buzzed, too.
The Jolly Tinker in Bedford Park is about to celebrate its 45th
birthday.
Gehrig, it will be recalled, played in 2,130 consecutive games for
the Bronx Bombers. That makes the Jolly Tinker the Iron Horse of
Irish pubs.
The proud Prendergast family, which has owned the watering hole the
entire time, says it has been open 16,433 consecutive days — and
counting.
That includes Christmases, blackouts, blizzards, births, deaths,
riots and more.
“We had a fire in 1985 and even then we were able to reopen half a
day later,” said Michael Prendergast Jr., 48, who claims the Tinker
is also the only bar in the Bronx to be owned by a single family
for all these years.
With the exception of the Yankee Tavern, which opened in 1928, it’s
also the oldest bar, period.
Since opening its doors on Feb. 8, 1969, beer and spirits have
flowed every single day without fail, seven days a week, from 8
a.m. until 4 a.m.
And the bar doesn’t shy away from its age.
The wood and stone walls are seemingly held up by relics of Bronx
and Irish history, police and fire fighter memorabilia, and
photographs from earlier times.
“It doesn’t look like the ritziest place in the world,” said second
generation regular Cunningham McKillop, 42. “But it’s the people
that make it what it is.”
And, McKillop said, the Prendergasts have made the bar a home away
from home for so many faithful patrons.
Michael Prendergast Sr., a retired firefighter who emigrated from
County Waterford in Ireland, opened the bar at 2875 Webster Ave.
back when the Bedford area was ripe with many of his thirsty fellow
countrymen.
His wife, Mary, decided the place should be named after one of her
favorite Clancy Brothers tunes.
The bar quickly became a meeting place for transplants from the
Emerald Isle in an area that was so saturated with the Irish in the
1980s that it was often called “Little Belfast.”
While many of the blue collar bars in the Bedford and Norwood areas
— such as Gorman’s and McMahon’s — have shuttered, the Tinker has
held on.
“It's a family business and that’s a dying breed,” the younger
Prendergast said.
And the kegs won’t be running dry any time soon.
Fordham students, cops and firefighters from the nearby stations,
and a bevy of local characters, still call the corner bar home.
“We see the sons and daughters of our original customers mixing
with students from Fordham,” Prendergast said. “It’s been quite an
achievement.”
The second generation publican said the bar will host a birthday
bash this Saturday featuring a mix of live music, drink specials
and a special Bronx trivia game with prizes.
“All are welcome,” Prendergast said. “We’re going to get together
and pay tribute to those who have made this place what it is.”