For most people in Tottenham, Mannion's Prince Arthur is more than just a pub. It’s a community anchor, and every Christmas Day it becomes a haven for those with nowhere else to go.
Mannion's Prince Arthur (Photo by the Irish Post)At the centre of it all is publican Michael Finneran, a man whose journey from Roscommon to North London has been marked by hard work and generosity.
“I’m from a little village in Roscommon called Bellanagare,” he says, recalling the place where he first made his name, not in the pub trade, but on the football pitch.
A star of the Roscommon team, he won four Connacht titles in a row between 1977 and 1980 and lined out in the 1980 All-Ireland final.
Two years earlier, he had collected an All-Ireland Under-21 medal.
But life took him elsewhere. “Moved over to London in ’85, was working on the building sites during the day, and during the night I was doing bar work for three pounds an hour.”
His early years in London were a blur of long hours and familiar faces.
“I worked in the Mulberry Tree on Holloway Road, owned by Sean Flattery, and then I moved down to Finsbury Park to a pub called the King’s Head. Then I worked in a pub called the Bank of Friendship, right next to Arsenal football ground."
"The place would be absolutely packed on a Saturday.”
Eventually, he found himself running his own places.
“I ran a pub for 11 years called The Railway, in Finsbury Park. Then I met Mr Mannion, and he offered me a job at another one of his pubs called The Connaught."
"Then I moved down here to Tottenham, and he offered me the lease to the pub: Mannion’s Prince Arthur. That was in 2005, so I’ve been here 20 years.”
In those twenty years, It has built a reputation for giving back.
A long way from Roscommon (Photo by the Irish Post)On St Patrick’s Day, Finneran throws the doors wide open.
“On St Patrick’s Day the pub is open, and everyone who comes in, we give them a free dinner. That’s a couple of hundred people. I go around with a bucket or a hat, and anyone who wants to can give a donation to St Joseph’s Hospice.”
But it is Christmas Day that brings out the best expression of his generosity.
“For homeless people or people who are living on their own, or people who don’t have anywhere to go for a Christmas meal… we started doing that about ten years ago,” he says.
“In the beginning there were only about twenty people, but in the last few years it’s gone up to about sixty.”
They serve a wide variety: “Turkey, Goose, Bacon and Cabbage”, all from the kitchen in the pub.
Attendance isn’t random: “Not anyone can just turn up; we invite you in,” he explains, ensuring that those most in need get a place at the table.
The idea came from a memory that has stayed with him for decades.
“In 1986 I was walking Holloway Road, and I had not a penny in my pocket, and I looked down and saw a pound coin, and I got a bag of hot chips and a can of coke, and that was my Christmas dinner."
"So I didn’t want that to happen to anyone else, but ten years ago it was really my wife, Rose, who pushed the idea to help people on Christmas Day.”
Despite all his years away, Finneran still carries Ireland with him, though he jokes that he doesn’t pine for much.
“I don’t miss much,” he laughs. “I miss my neighbour there; he’s a decent man and a staunch Liverpool supporter. I also miss my sister giving out to me,” he adds with a smile.
In a city that can feel anonymous, his pub offers warmth, welcome and the certainty that no one should eat their Christmas dinner alone.
One of the best Irish pubs Lin London (Photo by The Irish Post)