Taylor Swift reportedly visited Achill Island off the coast of Co Mayo when she was in Ireland for her three sold-out Eras Tour concerts in Dublin late last month.
"She was being driven around and did not want any fuss made whatsoever,” one local person told The Connaught Telegraph about Swift’s “low-key” visit to the west of Ireland.
"She was taking time out from her hectic schedule to see if Achill was as stunning as it was portrayed in 'The Banshees of Inisherin.'
"She said how beautiful a place it was to live.
"She came across as a really warm and lovely person. It was a pleasure to meet her."
According to The Connaught Telegraph, Swift paid a visit to Cloughmore, where the fictional JJ Devine's Pub was built for "The Banshees of Inisherin."
The megastar is also reported to have visited Slievemore, Dugort, Dooagh, and Keem Bay.
Keem Bay on Co Mayo's Achill Island. (Ireland's Content Pool)
It's unclear when Swift snuck her visit to Co Mayo in. The popstar is believed to have arrived in Ireland on Friday, June 28 just hours before the first of her three sold-out shows at Dublin's Aviva Stadium. She performed her last show in Dublin on Sunday, June 30, and headed to Dublin's Hacienda Bar afterward for what bar owner Shay Duignan said was a "late one." On July 4, Swift was in Amsterdam for the next round of her Eras Tour concerts.
There was plenty of speculation that Swift - who had previously spent a considerable amount of time in Ireland - would head west in Ireland during her Irish visit this year after she gushed about the scenery in "The Banshees of Inisherin" during her "Directors on Directors" conversation with the film's director Martin McDonagh in 2022.
"The pub that you built, that blew my mind that that was something you built," Swift told McDonagh during their chat.
"It looked like it had been there forever."
She added: "I was actually sort of sad that you had built it. I was happy for the production design and the feat of engineering and the imagination that it was, but I wanted to go there."
McDonagh broke the news that the film's star Colin Farrell had driven by the area recently and that the built-for-purpose pub was gone.
"I was afraid you were going to say that," Swift lamented.
McDonagh offered: "Maybe they could build it. Maybe if the film does really, really well, people will visit."
"I'd like to float that idea," Swift said, "I'll go."
McDonagh explained that they also had to take away Pádraic's house as Inishmore "is a place of natural beauty and heritage, so you have to take everything away and leave it exactly as it was."
Swift agreed that that was "good," but McDonagh added: "Although a lot of locals were saying, 'this would be a great little tourist attraction to have.'"
While the fictional JJ Devine's was demolished after filming, the intrepid Luke Mee went on to recreate the iconic pub at his Mee's Bar in Kilkerrin, Co Galway.
"A few months had gone by since the filming finished and I heard the set had been taken down and was in a yard in Achill, but in very good condition," Mee told the Galway Advertiser in June 2023.
"I waited for a period of time to see if anyone else showed any interest before taking it to Kilkerrin.
"I had the space to put it out the back of Mee's Bar and that I would be able to restore it and preserve it, so I brought it here."
Mee told the Galway Advertiser that Swift "would be very welcome to come to see the pub and enjoy herself and enjoy JJ Devine's first free pint."
Mee's Bar, however, was placed on the market earlier this year and appears to still be for sale via Connaughton Auctioneers.
It's unclear if Swift scooped a sup.
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