Brennan's Criterion Bar was an Irish pub located in Bundoran, County Donegal. Considered one of the country's most famous pubs, it was latterly run by sisters Nan and Patricia, and began business on Saint Patrick's Day of 1900, operated then by the sisters' maternal grandparents, James and Catherine Ward, who bought the building it was in, which had at the time been a guesthouse. Nan and Patricia's father, James Brennan, returned from the United States in 1932, marrying their mother Mary Ward the following year. Mary Ward died in 1962 and James Ward remained behind the bar until 1981 when his two daughters took over the business. Nan worked, while Patricia cooked . Part of the pub's appeal in its latter years was its lack of TV, Internet and other modern conveniences , as well as its ban on swearing. In May 2015, TheJournal.ie named it on its list of 18 of the greatest Irish pubs that tourists don't know about, stating: Retreat here and find peace. Not even professional musicians and songwriters such as Phil Coulter, encouraged one evening to sing The Town I Loved So Well, were allowed to get away with breaking into song.In 2013, Brennan's featured in an RTÉ documentary, The Irish Pub. In March 2016, a reporter with The Boston Globe wrote a feature on the pub, such was the impression it had left on him. In 2017, the sisters appeared together in a screen advertisement for Guinness. Nan's death in her early eighties in mid-August 2017 was reported in the national media, such was the respect and renown enjoyed by the sisters. An elder sister, Cait, was reported to still be living in Dublin, while a younger brother, Seamus, had predeceased Nan in 2007. Following Nan's death, Patricia took the decision to close the pub. It shut its doors for the final time on the night of Sunday 30 September 2018.
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