Fagan's Sheffield: Married couple running city's 'longest-licensed' pub explain secret behind its success

Sheffield-born licensee Tom Boulding and his wife Barbara, from Barnsley, took over the iconic venue in 1985. Now – 37 years later – Tom and Barbara have been given a prestigious long-service award by the building’s owner, Star Pubs and Bars, to mark their many years at the helm.

The award highlights the fantastic contribution and long service the Bouldings have made to Sheffield life while owning the pub.

When Tom and Barbara took over in 1985, the pub was called The Barrel, but the couple decided to rename it Fagan’s to honour the previous landlord, Joe Fagan, who ran the pub from 1947.

This historic pub is believed to be the longest-licensed pub in Sheffield, dating back to the late 1700s.

Fagan’s is one of the few remaining traditional pubs in Sheffield city centre and is known for its Irish heritage, cask ale, legendary Guinness, great conversation, and live music sessions.

Besides the introduction of food, hand-pulled beer and two weekly quizzes, little has changed inside this iconic venue since its last major refurbishment in 1953.

“Walking into Fagan’s is like stepping back in time. It’s a proper old-fashioned pub,” says Tom Boulding. “That’s why we wanted it. We loved it just as it was when we first saw it, and we still do.

"The area around has transformed out of all recognition since the mid-80s. The factories and offices have gone and we’re surrounded by new buildings, but Fagan’s remains the same.”

Tom speaks of the history of the iconic pub, and how it became the first licensed pub in Sheffield.

"The back story of the pub is probably the oldest one in Sheffield. CAMRA’s historian seems to think its the oldest in the town centre.,” he said.

"CAMRA think this is the oldest continuous licence in the city.

"Fagan took it in 1947 – he was born into the licensed trade. He was born in The Gate Inn which is no longer there. His father, Michael, had The Little Bridge Inn opposite Lady’s Bridge Brewery, which was then also known as Fagan’s.

"So Joe took this in 1947 and kept it until 1985 and we renamed it. I kept referring to it as Fagan’s to area manager, Peter Lake, who said you mean ‘The Barrel’ – I said nobody calls it The Barrel, if you meet anyone in The Barrel you are on London Road. Everyone calls it Fagan's.

Tom also speaks of the proud Irish heritage of the pub which is still a very big tradition there today.

"Everyone calls it Fagan’s as that’s the Irish tradition. This is originally an Irish house. When the Irish came to Sheffield in the 1840s the worst housing was across the road,” he said.

"The pubs that were here then, that are here now, are still historically the Irish houses and have Irish music and traditions still going on.

"We took it off of Joe and we basically just continued what Joe was doing with it. We continued the tradition with the music which is a big thing here. Five nights a week we have music, not just Irish – all sorts of music – but there is still that thread of Irish music going through it.

"St Patrick’s Day, March 17, is our busiest day for obvious reasons, and that is bouncing along with music all day.

"Basically we have been continuing a tradition. It is very familiar, very homely, there is no television, no jukebox, it’s just conversation and live music – a very old-fashioned boozer.”

The biggest alteration that has been made to Fagan’s came in 2013, when renowned Sheffield artist Pete McKee painted his first ever mural – The Snog – on the pub’s exterior wall in what has become somewhat of an iconic symbol in the city centre and further boosted Fagan’s status as a city landmark.

On how the mural came about, Tom said: “We knew Pete McKee because we go back a long time now.

"He popped in one day and he said I am doing an exhibition at a place called the Blue Shed in Darnall and was wondering how to advertise it.

"We’d been offered a lot of money to put adverts on it (the pub exterior wall) but I think it looks horrible. So he said what about one of my paintings, and I thought that sounded interesting so we talked it through.

"The next Saturday he turned up with Chris, one or two others and a scissor lift and they worked on it.”

In total, it took Pete just eight hours to complete the mural at Fagan’s, which is now one of the city’s best-loved public artworks.

Asked about his favourite stories from the pub over the years, Tom says we would ‘be here all day’ because he has so many tales to tell from his time at the helm.

"It’s not just the famous people. People who aren’t famous at all are just as interesting as the ones people have heard about. They have all sorts of extraordinary stories going back to some of the more tragic backgrounds, some of them extremely funny,” he said.

The pandemic showed the public’s appreciation for Fagan’s as the Bouldings became inundated with offers of financial support during the first lockdown.

“We were astonished and very touched; it showed just how much Fagan’s means to people,” said Barbara.

"Fortunately, we didn’t need to take a penny, as we had first-class rent support from Star Pubs & Bars, which kept the pub afloat.”

Star Pubs & Bars Area Manager Anthony Lowther-Knowles said: "They put their hearts and souls into Fagan’s, and have retained all its wonderful quirkiness, friendliness and character. It’s all credit to them that Fagan’s is still thriving and is such a well-loved Sheffield institution.”