Bohill family retire from Holy Cross Pub after 30 years

The proprietors of the Holy Cross Pub announced last week that were to retire following many years of service to the pub trade in Waterford.

The Holy Cross, on the Cork Road near Butlerstown GAA Club, was placed for sale last week by long-term proprietors Bobby and Eileen Bohill. 

The premises has been described by the selling agents as "a strong opportunity to acquire a well-known licensed premises with a very steady voluminous annual turnover but with scope to increase the existing business".

The well-known Bohill family have been running the pub for 30 years.

A cornerstone of the local community, it is understood that the Holy Cross has been in existence for 250 to 300 years.

Bobby Bohill said: “I was offered it in 1994, and thank God now it's going well and it has been for a long time. It was a big decision at the time to take it. I worked in finance from 1976 until 1992, and I was manager of UDT in Waterford from 1985 until I left in 1992. Then I decided to do something for myself."

Speaking on taking over the business, Bobby said: “I took Eileen out for a spin one day. She asked, ‘where are we going?' I said ‘out to the Holy for some lunch'. She didn’t know that I had already been looking at taking it. So that’s the way it was revealed.

“After we took it, it just got bigger and bigger. We got slowly into food, like soup and sandwiches that Eileen would do. Then we started to take on chefs. It became the social centre for Butlerstown."

Since taking charge in 1994, Bobby and Eileen have made many changes, including expanding the food offerings and the décor. 

In 2010, a fire decimated the pub's thatched roof. Bobby said at the time that he believed the fire was caused by a hot spot in the chimney, which caused the four-foot thick thatch roof to set alight.

The pub bounced back, however, and the thatched roof was replaced.

Bobby adds: “There's people here who have been coming in for as long as I can remember and we get an awful lot of regulars."

There are a number of long-term staff working in the business and Bohill family members have been invaluable to the up keep of the business.

Speaking on his retirement, Bobby said: “I should have retired about 10 years ago, but the time wasn’t right and we loved working here. 30 years is a lifetime. In January, I’ll be 74, so it's just time to get out."