OUR STORY
BEST TOLD OVER A STUBBY...
After years of talking, three lifelong pals, Paul, Vino & Cillian, set about recreating what the Irish public house means to a community and began building something that they hoped would someday become iconic to their hometown of Dundalk.
Mo Chara—which means ‘my friend’ in Irish is still used on occasion around the town as a casual way to greet your mate and the lads thought this was the perfect name for a pub started by old friends to make loads of new ones.
Opened in July 2021, Mo Chara is well on its way to achieving that iconic status the lads dreamt of with people now beginning to make the pilgrimage from all across the country.
HUB NOT A PUB
From the start, the plan was to create a
spot where folks could come together,
share ideas, and give a nod to the thinkers, do-ers and local legends of the town hosting all kinds of events. Or put simply, the lads felt Dundalk was missing something and promised themselves to put things on they would actually enjoy going to!
Everything from packed Sunday markets
with local crafty vendors to comedy nights featuring the country’s top acts, kitchen pop-ups by the best chefs in Ireland and even historic secret gigs by bands like The Mary Wallopers. There's always something happening at Mo's.
BIG COLLABS
If there’s one thing the lads know how to
do right that’s getting people talking with an unexpected brand collab.
In 2023, Mo Chara’s jersey collaboration with New Balance reached over 1.9 million people worldwide being picked up by one of the biggest platforms in the US, Hypebeast. This resulted in €7k raised for charity and jerseys being sold and shipped to every corner of the globe.
In 2024, Mo Chara again released a
collaboration but this time with Japanese denim giants, Edwin. The capsule featured an illustration of their Mascot ‘Mo’ drinking a stubby and although originally designed as staff uniform, the drop ended up being again sold to the public across the globe.
Most recently, the lads teamed up with Beamish for their most successful drop yet selling over one thousand co-branded merch bits after media coverage from LADbible and the likes!
CAUSING A STIR
But its not all just about collabs—and
who doesn’t love a good protest? The
lads took to the Aviva Stadium to protest
in good spirits against Dundalk FC legend,
Stephen Kenny’s dismissal as manager
of the men’s national team offering free
beer to anyone who agreed with them.
Most recently, the lads have linked up
with KNEECAP to donate some stubbies
at the unveiling of their new mural in
Belfast. This relationship has already led
to the first screening of KNEECAP’s new
movie outside of cinemas at Mo Chara. Who knows we might even see a gig at some stage?
MAKING OUR MARK
The good work didn’t stop there though
and the lads took their community-minded
approach seriously, donating 10c of every
house beer sold to a local charity since
opening their doors. That’s over €17k raised and counting for important causes.
All of this has led to plenty of noise
around Mo Chara and a quickly growing
base of loyal followers watching
their every move documented through
their main channel of Instagram with over
24k followers.
Winning ‘Louth Pub of the Year in
2022’ and ‘Irish Craft Bar of the Year’ for
the whole of Ireland all helped cement Mo
Chara as one of the greatest wee pubs
with the greatest wee stubby in the world!
MO'S LAGER
Not a lot of people know but before
a pub was ever on the cards the initial
plan was to start a brewery and launch
Mo Chara as a beer brand.
Luckily, after coming from the
brewing industry, they realised they
didn’t have a spare couple of million
lying around and decided opening a
pub first and going about it a different
way would stand to them in the long
run—and so it did.
After over three years in the pub, and spending most of that time perfecting the beer, the launch of Mo’s Lager in 2023 is the culmination of everything the lads had
initially dreamed of doing.
Now in over 200 pubs, offies & restaurants across the island of Ireland & UK mainland - the stubby has big ambitions to go global!