Stay ‘snug’ at Deer Park
A column by Cindy Larson - The News-Sentinel
February 13, 2007

Tony Henry says the little room he built in his Deer Park Irish Pub isn’t a confessional booth. Nor is it a bathroom, mini-condo, shanty, doghouse or powder room. It’s a snug.

Huh?

Henry was in Ireland a few weeks ago and kept noticing “little shanty closets” in the pubs he visited. Turns out they’re called “snugs,” and they were first built in Irish pubs in the early-to middle-19^th century for patrons who preferred not to be seen in the public bar-such as the parish priest, or ladies, who back in those days were looked down on for being in a pub.

So he decided to build one in his own pub at 1530 Leesburg Road. The tiny snug has room for one table and two wooden benches- enough to seat four to six people. It’s proved to be popular with his customers. “If I tore that thing down now there’d be a riot,” he said.