Famous Irish pub posts image of drinker stealing ‘priceless’ pub chair after night out

Seumus’ Irish Bar in Picton shared snaps to social media to try track down the ‘priceless’ seat.

A man is seen wandering out of the bar before he hoists the seat onto his shoulder and takes off with it.

“It is just a chair, but it’s the principle of it isn't it. We’d looked after them, and then they went and did that,” pub co-owner Vanessa Evans told Stuff.

“I think the thing that gutted me a wee bit was, we pride ourselves on our hospitality, and we put on a good time for them, and there was a bit of banter, and we had a bit of fun, and literally they just took my chair at the end of it.”

She called the move “calculated” as the punter pretended to be going outside to smoke.

After the footage made it to social media, a red-faced and remorseful drinker went straight to the local police station – just 500m from Seumus’ Irish Bar - the morning after.

Evans said the man was “banging on the police station” at 7am the next morning, having only taken the chair at 5.30pm the evening before.

He made a donation to a local charity to make up for his actions.

She said the chair was ‘priceless’ despite not being worth much, explaining it was more the “principle” that riled up pub owners.

"It’s not really worth anything, but it's worth everything,” she told police.

The Irish pub in Picton holds the coveted title of ‘Irish Pub of the Year’ in the Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Pacific region.

The pub “received over 20,000 votes from customers of Irish pubs around the world” to get to the finals in Dublin in 2019.