Swapping the Dales and the Woolpack for Offaly hostelry

Patrons of Luker's pub restaurant and bar in Shannonbridge got the surprise of their lives last week when Danny Miller of Emmerdale fame popped in for some food and a pint of the blackstuff.

Danny, who many will know as Aaron in Emmerdale, was visiting his family in Ireland, when he dropped in to Luker's for some food, falling in love with the old Irish pub that has been there since the 1700s.

Proprietor John Joe Ryan the Emmerdale actor.

'He is a lovely individual, he was here with his granddad. They stayed about two hours and we all had a few drinks together in the old bar,' explains John Joe.

'His family are originally from Ahascragh. They just called in for some food and then one of the staff spotted him and told my wife Helen, who is a big Emmerdale fan. I don't watch the soaps at all.

'And then we started chatting to them and gave them a tour of the place and they ended up drinking here for about two hours.

'They fell in love with the place because it has been here since the 1700s. The loved the kitchen with the open fire where people used to bake bread years ago,' continues John Joe, who tells how only recently he had John Sheehan of The Dubliners down for a night.

'It's the first time this pub has been opened every day since the 1920s. I took it over a few years back and used to open nightly, and then we got a good chef in and we've been open daily for the last 12 months now, and it's flying.'