Tributes have been paid in Derry to the folk singer, political radical and Sandino’s bar founder Joe Mulheron, who has sadly died.
His bar, named after the Nicaraguan revolutionary hero Augusto Cesar Sandino, was described as a “haven for a mixture of a socialists and Bohemians” by Eamonn McCann in a poignant tribute to his friend of several decades.
Mr McCann, speaking to Belfast Live, said he had “known Joe since the days of People’s Democracy” in the late 1960s.
Foyle MP Colum Eastwood, Bloody Sunday campaigner Kate Nash, writer Darach McDonald, and a host of various campaigners, activists and musicians have all shared tributes to the late Mr Mulheron.
A talented songwriter and folk singer best known for his association with ‘The Men of No Property’, Mr Mulheron was described as a “patron of the arts”.
His bar, one of Derry’s best known, was a frequent meeting place for trade unionists, socialists, environmentalists and other campaigners.
Veteran socialist Eamonn McCann said: “I’ve known Joe since the days of People’s Democracy, which was a long time.
“I’ve known him all that time. In more recent years people I think most would have known Joe as the man who invented and who ran Sandino’s.
“Sandino’s has a reputation all over Ireland – and even beyond – for its music and for its support of the arts. Joe was a great patron of the arts, a musician himself, and right from I knew him he was writing songs.
“He was associated with ‘The Men of No Property’ and he had a great talent for writing songs very quickly about particular events – which is an old fashioned sort of talent or genius that people used to have a lot more.
“One of his songs, which is one of the most popular that he wrote, was Bogside Red which referred to ‘Red’ Mickey Doherty – the red was a reference both to the colour of his hair and his politics.“So he’s got a long history and back catalogue of experience.
“And Sandino’s was seen like a haven for a mixture of both socialists and Bohemians. Sandino’s was the first port of call for thousands of people arriving in Derry over the years
“You'll get some people who are very interested in politics - and radical politics - and writers. When they came to Derry, very often, they would have heard of Sandino’s.
“People who came to Sandino’s are charmed. They’re charmed by all the revolutionary literature and revolutionary references, and photographs around the pillars or the pictures on the walls, and photographs of musicians and violins and saxophones hanging from the roof.
“The minute you walk into Sandino’s you can see this is a place devoted to music and it's a place of radical politics. Even though I don't drink at all, I would have been in it an awful lot of the days.
“Every week there will be some sort of radical meeting. All of the radical groups would know Sandino’s.
“Joe, by ideology, didn’t believe in Stalinism, Trotskyism or any of the other things, he was an anarchist. That made him a very genial host to all manner of political odds and sods and travelling musicians.”
Kate Nash, whose brother William was one of those killed on Bloody Sunday, also told Belfast Live: “He’s been very good to the committee that I’m in, he’s been very good to us over the years. He was such a kind man and that bar is the most interesting place, full of activists.
“A lot of politics would be discussed in there and such a nice customer base he has, he was such a lovely person, a kind person.”
Foyle MP Colum Eastwood, writing on Twitter, said: “Joe will be sorely missed but remembered fondly. Thinking of Joe’s family and all who knew him at this difficult time."
Writer Darach MacDonald said: "Joe Mulheron, the Man of No Property, the founder of Sandino's in Derry – the best socialist bar in the world – has passed away. No pasaran, vive Sandino, vive Joe."
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