To some it was an unassuming pub on a side street behind the Four Courts in Dublin City centre. To musicians, dancers, singers and listeners, it was a mecca of traditional music for over 35 years.

In 2021, Hughes’s pub closed its doors for the last time, the echoes of musical memories left buried in its walls. Actor Brendan Gleeson played there often. It was a kind of hideout for him — its musicians and music providing a blanket of escape. So, when the fiddle playing director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, Liam O’Connor, approached Brendan about making a music documentary, he immediately thought of Hughes’s.

A place once whispered about in case everyone found out about it could now be brought to light and have its story told. Filmed over five days in January 2022 in and around the pub, Brendan Gleeson’s Farewell to Hughes’s records and interviews various musicians, dancers and singers as they gather one last time to revisit the magic, with archival footage inserted throughout to tell the story of Hughes’ contribution to both the traditional music community in Dublin and the city as a whole.

Seán Hughes worked as assistant editor on this film.

A Key Note and ITMA Production.