Beloved Berkeley Irish pub celebrates life of co-founder

In the decades since, the pub became a South Berkeley institution, filling many roles from arts center to nightclub to a sort of unofficial Irish consulate. According to a Berkeleyside obituary, the Starry Plough was the first stop for many Irish immigrants in the Bay Area, and Hughes would do everything she could to make these new Americans feel at home.

“She would open her home, keep you, feed you and use all her resources and connections to help you get settled,” Eileen Hughes wrote in the Berkeleyside obituary.

But it wasn’t just Irish immigrants who felt at home at the Starry Plough. Funk Night, a raucous dance party with live music that takes place every Thursday, has become a rite of passage for many Cal students.

“For me, the Starry Plough was integral to my experience as a UC Berkeley student, whether I was dancing the night away with my friends at Funk Night or nervously taking the stage to sing at open mic nights,” wrote SFGATE’s Madeline Wells when the bar reopened after a long pandemic hiatus. “For the past two years, I kept anxiously returning to the bar’s Facebook page, hoping to god the pandemic wouldn’t snatch away one of the Bay Area institutions that most felt like home.”

The Starry Plough, and by extension, Hughes, meant many things to many different people. 

“Some people come to the Plough for the music, or some people just come because they love the atmosphere and they just come to drink beer here. Some people just love the food,” said Shahin Naima, the Starry Plough’s manager and Hughes’ grandson.

Others came for the Starry Plough’s well-known connection to radical politics. Named after the flag of the Irish Citizen Army, an Irish socialist movement, the Starry Plough has served as a home base for political action.

“With deep roots as an Irish Revolutionary watering hole, the history of protest runs as deep today as it did when we opened four decades ago,” reads a banner on the pub’s website.

According to those who knew her, Hughes embodied these beliefs. The Berkeleyside obituary noted that Hughes taught her family to be generous, share anything they had and stand up to injustices.

Hughes was a constant at the pub, telling jokes and sharing stories with regulars. She was even known to stand in as a bouncer if any unsavory characters made appearances. 

When Hughes’ death was announced on social media, condolences came pouring in from longtime patrons, most of whom seemed to have personal connections to her. Many gave examples of Hughes’ legendary hospitality to strangers.

“Thank you for all your love and support and taking me in and feeding me as a young kid,” wrote one Facebook user.

“She … brought us 4 scallywags from Belfast into her house, watered and fed us and made us very welcome,” wrote another. 

Well-wishers are invited to the Starry Plough (3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley) for a celebration of Hughes’ life at 3 p.m. on Sunday.