A couple are ending their tenure at a Perth pub after 21 years at the helm.
Mark O’Callaghan and his wife Lisa took on the Auld Hoose on South Street in 2002 – just a month after getting married.
It has since become a Fair City institution, with the boozer attracting a loyal customer base.
Most recently, the pub launched a game of Rangers penalty bingo with the winner taking home £50 and the rest of the money going to Perth and Kinross Foodbank.
But the couple say it is time for a new challenge and will leave the pub in January.
Mark, 51, told The Courier: “It’s going to be weird not running the pub after 21 years.
“There’s been a lot of people through the doors and a lot of people who aren’t here anymore.
“There’s also been a lot of people that we’ve seen coming into the pub at 18 for their first drink that are now in their mid-30s and have children and families of their own.”
Couple giving up popular Perth pub for new challenge
Lisa, 44, added: “It’s definitely mixed emotions. It’s good that we’re moving on for our family because we’ll be able to spend more time together but it’s definitely tinged with sadness because we’ve been here a long time.
“We’ve seen the worst and best times of people’s lives.
“To think of all the events that have happened here: the laughs; the tears; the hard work.
“It’s in a good place now and someone else can hopefully take it on.”
Lisa recently graduated as a nurse from the University of Dundee, while Mark is also moving on to a job for the NHS at Murray Royal next year.
Daughter Grace, 20, currently works with them at the pub.
Mark explained that running the Auld Hoose had become too “tying”.
He said: “People don’t realise how tying having the pub actually is because you’re never really off duty.
“For myself, I’m 51 now and not getting any younger so I was thinking: What do I want to be doing for the next 15 years?”
Lisa continued: “With the price of everything going up, it’s just getting harder to make a living.
“We want to spend a bit more time together as a family.
“We have two children who have grown up in the pub and they don’t know anything else.
“Our regulars in here are our friends and our family and we’re really close to them.
“We’ve got a great clientele here. We’ll miss that daily interaction with them.”
New owners of Auld Hoose face £38k annual rent
The couple are looking forward to spending more time together as a family but have said that they will miss the banter from working in the pub.
Mark said: “It’s the people that make the pub.
“We’ve had so many laughs in here. I could write a book; who knows, maybe I will!”
Lisa said: “We hope people will remember us for being a family pub. I hope that we’ve helped people out along the way and made them feel welcome.”
The Greene King pub is offered with an annual rent of £38,500.
The couple hope that someone will step in to keep it going.
Mark added: “We just want to say thank you to all of our team who have worked with us over the last two decades.
“There are far too many of you to mention but you all know who you are and we are grateful to you all and we literally couldn’t have done it without you.”
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