Renowned Omagh publican dies aged 91

ONE of Omagh’s most renowned publicans has died at the age of 91.

The funeral will take place this morning (Thursday) in the Sacred Heart Church in Omagh of Eugene Boyle, who worked for more than 50 years at Charlie’s Bar in Campsie.

He began his career in the bar – which is still named after his uncle and former proprietor, Charles Vincent – in 1952, and continued there until it was sold in 2005.

Mr Boyle’s death comes almost exactly half a century after the bar was completely demolished when it was targeted by an IRA bomb.

In an UlsterHerald feature marking his retirement from the business in 2005, just before it was sold, Mr Boyle recalled the attack.

“It was a Thursday night, and there were about 30-40 people in the pub,” he said. “We got the warning call that two suitcases containing explosives had been left.

“Fortunately, we all go out and no-one was hurt.”

Mr Boyle also spoke about his remarkable lifetime as a publican, beginning in 1952, when he started out as an inexperienced bar manager.

“There was very little beer back then; it was all bottles of stout, which we had to bottle ourselves. The usual drink was a bottle of stout and a half ‘un of whiskey – a man’s drink,” he recounted.

“I enjoyed the work, and the craic was great. Back in those times, you had to make your own entertainment. There were no Troubles, and Catholics and Protestants all got on very well together.

“We had a very mixed clientele, and, with so many different kinds of shops, the Campsie area was like a wee town of its own; a community within a community.”

Mr Boyle was pre-deceased by his wife, Carmel. He is survived by his children, Tara, Niamh, Kerrie, and Eoin, and grandchildren, Aimee, Charlie and Matthew Grugan, and Archie Boyle.