Wolverhampton club happy to be a place for people of all creeds to celebrate St Patrick's Day

The Emerald Club in Wolverhampton will be one of many pubs and clubs across the West Midlands which will be celebrating St Patrick's Day on Monday.

The annual day on March 17 commemorates the death day of St Patrick and brings together people of Irish heritage, as well as people wanting to celebrate the day, together in an explosion of green hats, coats, shamrocks and all other manner of Irish displays.

While the annual parade in Digbeth in Birmingham was cancelled due to safety concerns, the Irish community across the region will still come together for a day of family, fun and a few pints of Guinness.

At the Emerald Club, there will be balloons and decorations, as well as Guinness banners, and the Big Dave Paddioke will provide entertainment in the afternoon, while Brendan Collis and guests will also be providing traditional Irish music in the bar in the evening.

For manager Joe O'Hara, it was a day to celebrate with friends and family and provide a great atmosphere to enjoy the craic.

He said: "We're an Irish social club with about 200 members and have had a lot of people come in over the years, from old to young members.

"What we say is you haven't got to be Irish to come and celebrate and we welcome in people of all denominations as it's all about good music and a great atmosphere and about having some great craic.

"With Birmingham having cancelled their parade, we've been busy all over the weekend and we anticipate St Patrick's Day being really busy and a really good day."

As well as the range of Irish drinks behind the bar, the Emerald Club will also be putting on food during the day, such as burgers and fries.

For Mr O'Hara, it was a day which he knew would be busy, but also made him proud to be the manager of such a popular club.

He said: "There's a lot of people who have probably never come here before or only come in twice a year, but they always come here for St Patrick's Day because it's all about heritage.

"There's lots of people who have lived here for 40 or 50 years and they come here to celebrate the day as they would if they were living in Ireland.

"It's a big day for me as well as my mum was from Balbriggan in Dublin and my father was from Ballinamore in Leitrim and St Patrick's Day to me is a celebration of Irish history.

"To see loyal customers coming in and having a good day and meeting people they might not see again until next St Patrick's Day is wonderful as they'll come and have a good time."