Baker in new Trim venture

Well known guitarist, harmonica player and actor Don Baker is to open a new chapter in his varied career with a music, food and bar business in Trim.

Baker and his wife Maureen recently sealed the deal on the purchase of Brogan’s Bar and Guesthouse in High Street, Trim, one of the oldest and best known hosteleries in the town which had been run as a bar and restaurant for a number of years.
Now the Bakers are looking to make chances to the premises and turn it into a venue they feel will be more suitable for musical gigs yet still provide food, drink and accommodation.
“Maureen is the brains behind this project, I’m just a dumb musician doing what I can,” said Baker as he took time out from recording a new album with singer Clara Rose Monahan to talk about his first venture into business.
Maureen O’Reilly and Don Baker were married in February 2015 and the couple have now taken the decision to go into business in Trim where Don has lived for the past 11 years.
In what he described as a “substantial investment” Baker says extensive work is currently taking place on refurbishing Brogan’s Bar and Guesthouse including the installation of a new ceiling to seperate the ground-floor lounge and the upper storey restaurant.
“We are hoping the changes will make the lounge more intimate if you like and we’re hoping this will help create a better atmosphere and location for listening to music as well,” he added. “Although the place was well designed the music tended to go up through that space that existed between the two floors and so did the atmosphere. We’ve also installed new furniture, new carpets, all the bedrooms are been refurbished.”
The venue will be known as ‘Brogan’s Bar and Guesthouse’ and the proposed date for the new opening is Tuesday, 6th December. The long-term plan is to stage regular gigs featuring many of the best known Irish singers and musicians.
“The smaller gigs will be held in the lounge, which will be called the O’Reilly Lounge, it can hold about 150 people but the larger gigs will be held upstage in what we have called the Baker Loft, which can hold about 250, when the new floor is in. The front bar is relatively small you’re looking at 60 or 70 people while out the back we will be putting in a canapy structure for the smoking area and heaters,” added Baker who is regarded as one of the top blues harmonica players in the world and acted in films such as ‘The Name of the Father.’ He has also appeared in the ‘Fair City’ soap opera, and intends to perform in Brogan’s himself frequently.
“Life is not a dress rehearsal, you just have to go onwards and upwards and the thing about Brogan’s is that I will have somewhere to play I don’t have to be travelling all around the country like I normally do. I would be just as happy to go down to Brogans to play instead of going to places in Kerry and Donegal, all that’s a bit hectic at this stage.
“Having said that there is a tour planned with Clara Rose to promote the new album but I should be spending less time on the road and more in Brogans,” added Baker.