The Pink Elephant
Harbour View
Kilbrittain
Co. Cork
Ireland
Phone: 023 884 9608
Introduction
We are a restaurant. We are a bar. Come for a meal. Come for a drink. Come and enjoy the stunning West Cork scenery in a warm and informal atmosphere.
Looking for a venue for something special? – talk to us. We host events of all types from small gatherings, meetings, parties, christenings – everything right up to weddings. And if you are looking for accommodation, there is plenty within a very short distance of The Pink.
Locals and visitors alike enjoy The Pink. Come in and join them.
Our People
Our staff are from Kilbrittain and the surrounding area. So who might you meet? Front of house, owner Niall, who sometimes plays the piano if he is not out kayaking, and manager Jeremy. Jeremy is a native of Yorkshire who has been in West Cork since he were nowt but a lad; a keen fisherman who will tell the usual tall tales of where and how a catch may be caught, or might even sing you a song. In the kitchen you might spot Brenda, a native of Waterford who has lived in Kilbrittain and worked at The Pink for many years; our world-famous brown soda bread, desserts and delectable meringues? – all Brenda’s creations.
Others? You’ll just have to call in to meet them.
A Little History
The Pink Elephant has been a bar and restaurant for nearly 50 years. The core building itself is much older, being one of the oldest houses in the area. It is on a spectacular site overlooking Courtmacsherry Bay just at the point where the estuaries of the Kilbrittain and Argideen rivers meet to enter the Atlantic Ocean. There are uninterrupted views across the bay and out to sea, with spacious lawns that run down towards the coast.
If you had been in The Pink in May 1915 you would have had a grandstand view of the Lusitania as it was torpedoed and sank just a few miles offshore. More recently, in January 2009, you would have seen the 60 foot fin whale that came to beach itself just down the coast.
In its restaurant history there have only been three owners in five decades. Originally Major Gordon, a retired serviceman. Then, for many years, Bill & Betty Wafer and family. Now, since 2005, Niall Hegarty.
Back in the 1920s Niall’s grandparents used to rent the house that was to become The Pink Elephant, before moving to another house nearby. The connection with the area has been maintained ever since.