In the first instalment of a bar-focused series speaking to all Armagh city’s publicans about life behind the counter, Armagh I spoke to the owner of the area’s most long-running and history-rich establishments, Joanne Shilliday.
Joanne took over Armagh’s famous The Hole in the Wall bar in 2007 from former owner, Robert Lawson.
She worked in the pub in McCrum’s Court for Robert for a number of years before he decided to start anew and, during those years, she would jokingly say to him, “If you ever want to sell up, I’ll buy it from you.”
Of course, that’s exactly what came to pass. Looking back to the time, Joanne said the smoking ban had just come into effect and “everyone thought it would do harm”, thankfully, unlike many pubs who had to diversify, The Hole in the Wall already had a beer garden area and it was a saving grace!
Thinking about her years as a publican, naturally, the trials and tribulations came to mind. One that will be at the forefront of all bar owners’ minds, is the not-so-distant Covid Pandemic.
While it was an excruciatingly difficult time for those in hospitality, Joanne looks upon the time of lockdown and separation with an amount of pride. She used the time wisely and carefully and has undoubtedly emerged from the global epidemic as a much stronger establishment.
“A lot of our customers need the bar,” she explained. “We have a lot of older men who live by themselves and they see no one else all week. During Covid was crazy because you were worrying about them all the time and worrying about what happens to the staff.”
Social distancing became a real bugbear. To ensure the pub remained a safe space for her two-meter separated regulars, she took over the old Antiques store owned by Michael Emerson next door to the pub, knocked through into it and created an extension to her premises.
The Hole in the Wall
“Initially, I was just going to knock through and put some chairs in but I thought if I’m going to do it I may as well do it right. It was probably the best thing we ever did!”, she said.
For Joanne, her customers are more than just patrons. She – and the team – know their names, their orders, their favourite chair to sit in, their kids’ names, their grandkids’ names. They have become friends.
Of one particular patron-turned-friend – Melvin – Joanne said, that while a few choice words can on occasion be used to describe eachother, she calls him every week. When his wife sadly passed away, she also refused to let him take the bus to Cavan and drove him there, staying with him for her cremation.
Explaining the relationship with her customers, she added: “They come here because they are a family. I jokingly say we have a real pastoral care here.
“I once said to my Minister years ago ‘if someone is not at church on Sunday and they aren’t there the following week they might be sick or away, but if they aren’t there the week after that you really start to worry’ but I’m the same, if one of my customers isn’t here when they are meant to be, I wonder what’s going on.
“Even strangers, I have this thing that I do where I say, “you have five minutes”. If someone comes in I’ll say to them, ‘hello, how are you, where are you from, what are you doing in Armagh? You know by their reaction if they want to tell their story.
“You get to know what people want to talk about or when they want to talk and they don’t. Sometimes they just need to hear someone say ‘it’s ok’. That’s why it’s not like a job to me.”
And Joanne couldn’t reinforce enough how much she loves her “job” even though she never thinks of it as such. She said: “I am blessed that I do the job that I do. It’s not a job really, it’s not. I come in here and I smile. I never dread going to work in the morning.
“You come in and the customers will tell me something silly or I tell them my stories. The happy memories are every day. You’re always making new memories and creating new stories.”
Recalling some of those hard to mention ‘bad times’, Joanne added, “I don’t think people fully appreciate the importance of a pub.
“I have such a sense of pride. You watch how it grows and the customers grow. We have lost so many amazing people over the years. You become attached to them. We had a man, Joe Heaney here and he was a really good gardener and I would pick up vegetables and bits and it was like a barter system we had. One year he came to my house and planted roses and now every year when they come back I think of him.
“We had so many Reggie, Bobby Nelson. So many characters but the laughs and the giggles are just too many to count.”
She spoke just as fondly of her team of staff…. that seems to be growing by the day! One such staff member – who is also more friend or family than staff – is Amanda.
Amanda, Joanne explained, has been with The Hole in the Wall since 2007, when it came into Joanne’s hands.
‘Good Times’ craft beer
“They all shout at me but she definitely shouts at me! She’s the only one I’m afraid of,” she joked. “But you watch them all grow, they all have families of their own and have kids. I could nearly tell you where they all are even now and they all call me ‘boss’ even though I hate it!
“You be proud of them. They grow to know all the customers and the customers know them. They know everyone’s seat and everyone’s orders.”
Of one very special former member of staff, Lynne Ruddy, Joanne said: “She was here when I started and she said she would stay until I was sorted and she was still here ten years later! She still calls in every day for a cup of tea and if I have a problem or something I don’t know how to handle, she’s one of those people who you can always depend on.
“She’s 80 now and I ask her would she like to come back and she says, ‘I couldn’t deal with all that cocktail salad and those gins!'”
Moving onto a little of her historic pub’s history, Joanne explained the meaning behind the name ‘The Hole in the Wall’.
In 1615, the building was constructed as a jail in Armagh, where prisoners were held before being taken directly to their execution. There was no state provision for food, so when families came to visit, they would bring food with them and pass it through the hole in the wall, a feature that would eventually give the premises its name.
One of the most famous prisoners to be housed in the former jail was known outlaw, Seamus MacMurphy who – caught up in a bit of a love triangle – was betrayed by his lover and ultimately hanged for stealing a sheep.
In 1693, the building was granted its first licence as a public house, beginning a new chapter in its long and colourful history. More than 300 years later, Joanne continues to embrace that history while giving The Hole in the Wall a character and identity of its own.
That connection to the past doesn’t stop at the building itself. In recent years, Joanne has started bringing that same spirit into what is served across the bar, producing her own whiskey and beer.
“We produced our whiskey last year, with another two maturing in casks,” she said. ““We called the first one Rascals & Rogues as a nod to the characters who were once imprisoned here. The name is a fitting tribute to the building’s colourful past, while giving its history a modern-day twist.””
The Hole in the Wall has also ventured into brewing its own beer, with Good Times, a 4.5% hazy pale ale created specifically for the bar. The name reflects Joanne’s belief that the best moments are those shared with others, although, as she puts it, sometimes the bad times are better shared too.
But the drinks are just one part of Joanne’s continued efforts to build on the legacy of The Hole in the Wall and create new reasons for people to visit.
Joanne feels intensely lucky to own a pub here in Armagh where she says there is a sense of camaraderie between publicans.
Rascals & Rogues whiskey
“We all get on really well and we all go to eachother if we are stuck. Malachy O’Neill (formerly of Red Neds) was probably the most infleuntial person when I took over… he was like a mentor.”
And that ability to work together for the greater good, for Joanne, stems beyond the hospitality industry right into the heart of the highstreet.
It is something she has tried to put into practice through her own ventures, particularly with the launch of the ERA Music Festival in 2025.
“ERA brings people to Armagh and it’s not just the pubs getting the benefit, it’s everyone — the hairdressers, shops, cafés, boutiques, etc.”
The festival returns to Shambles Yard on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th August, with music for everyone and a programme designed to bring people into the city and encourage visitors to experience what Armagh has to offer beyond the festival itself.
Alongside ERA – which returns to the Shambles Yard on August 29 – Joanne has also developed a number of craft beers with local breweries, a graf using Long Meadow apples and two whiskeys, with one to be released before Christmas and the second due to release mid-2027.
As Joanne also runs the Fourth Wall bar at The Market Place Theatre, she has also developed a Craft Beer Festival to take place in the venue on September 11.
Most recently, she has added two mobile units to her growing operation, including a tuk-tuk called Fizz Matters, serving Prosecco, Spritzes and more, and a new coffee truck called ERA All Day, which will typically be pitched at Ardmore Playing Fields and other events.
She is always coming up with new and inventive ways to stimulate growth for herself, her businesses and for those around her. The constant ideas, while on occasion dreaded by her staff, have helped The Hole in the Wall cement itself in Armachian life, where Joanne hopes it will remain for many generations to come.
From a place where food was once passed through a hole in the wall to keep prisoners alive, the building has evolved into a place where people come together to share a drink, a story and a few good times.
And perhaps that is what The Hole in the Wall has always been about — the people. The characters may have changed over the centuries, but the stories, the friendships, the laughs and the sense of community continue to live on within its walls.
