Landlady Mary moves on after 25 years at iconic pub

Published on Friday 27 February 2009 08:43

WITH a dream of jetting off to the United States to work as an antiques dealer, Mary Moriarty only planned to spend a couple of years working in a Capital pub.

But after a quarter of a century at one of Edinburgh's most iconic watering holes, she is only just getting round to leaving.

The colourful publican has announced she is to retire and quit the Port O'Leith bar on Constitution Street where she has served generations of Leithers, tourists, and the occasional celebrity.

She said: "I will miss it, but I can still come here – and I won't have to tidy up afterwards which will be absolutely brilliant."

Mary, 70, first set foot through the door of the Port O'Leith in January 1984, armed with a licence that would give the pub, which had been closed for three months, a new lease of life.

But she never intended to spend 25 years in charge or forge a lifelong relationship with the bar.

She said: "I said to myself I would stay three years. I had spent two years in California, and thought I would like to go back, once my daughter had left school. My sister Elizabeth still lives there.

"I discovered the pub was up for a new licence when I returned to Scotland and, once I started, I was really quite enamoured with it. I suppose there came a point when I decided that I was not actually going back to America after all."

Mary grew up in Corstorphine and, before taking over the Port O'Leith, she ran the Gardeners Arms in Haddington, as well as working in antiques.

Some of her famous customers have included Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, playwright David Mamet and actor Steven Berkoff.

She said: "I've enjoyed it here so very much. I have met so many wonderful, interesting, fun people and I will miss them all."

It is understood the new licensee is from Leith and that paperwork will be signed by the summer. Mary will stay in charge until then and has been given assurances that the pub will remain true to its roots.

Mary is president of the Edinburgh and District Ladies Licensed Trade Auxiliary Association and a former vice-president of the city's branch of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

She was married to the late James Moriarty, a well-known mountaineer, and intends to spend more time with her daughter, Eilidh, 37, and her grandsons Igor, 16, and Connor, 13.

But she insists she has no plans to move to the US. She said: "I get a nosebleed if I even go past John Lewis. I'll just be staying here."