Peter O'Loghlen is in an unique position as he is currently 5th generation publican in the village of Ballyvaughan. His father, Mac Neill, bought the MacNaMaras Hotel premises in the mid '30s (to this day the hotel register dating back to 1897 is on display in the bar window). Peter's grandfather, Peter O'Loghlen Senior, was elected to Dail Eireann, the Irish Parliment between 1938 and 1944 and was a member of the Seanad for some years.

MacNeill is credited with the range of whiskeys on display, some of which are collectors items coming from distillers which have long ceased to exist. (Given that these whiskeys would be impossible to replace, we do not offer them for sale).

The late MacNeill O'Loghlen, Former Owner

"Our McNeill is never lost for a quick comment, reply or witticism and our days have been made happier by them. He is a man of the old school whose word is his bond. He seems to be a grave and serious man, a man of reserve but we know that he is a man with a heart." Sarah Poyntz, A Burren Journal

Peter O'Loghlen, Current Owner

The O'Loghlens were once a powerful Clare family, whose name is as ancient as the Burren itself. In addition to Newtown, The O'Loghlens held castles at Gregan's, Muckinish, Gleninagh and Grough. Following the Cromwellian period, the O'Loghlen territory passed into the hands of the then Duke of Buckinham and it was subsequently sold to a Colonel White, an ancestor of Lord Annally of Co. Dublin. When the Duke of Buckinham held the territory, he allowed the O'Loghlen clan, one of whom is believed to have married into his family, the full use of the entire lands at an nominal rent. When the estate passed to Colonel White, he quadrupled the rent and eventually the O'Loghlen clan were evicted for non-payment of rent. That was the last official connection of an O'Loghlen with the historic lands.

"We O'Loghlens once owned the whole area," he says. "Newtown Castle, Gregan's Castle, Gleninagh Castle. All the Burren was O'Loghlen territory til we were dispossessed by the British in the 1840s. Princes of the Burren, that's what the O'Loghlens used to be called. " Pope Brock, Travel Holiday Magazine