Just over the
road is Garvagh Post Office, as we stated earlier the town’s Post
Office used to be where McLenaghans shoe shop is. In later years
it was located at lower Main Street beside The Central House
restaurant and in August 1980 it moved to its present location.
The postmaster is Ronnie Gibson assisted by Mrs Irene Patterson.
Next door is Pauline’s hairdressers shop. The owner is Pauline
Bond and her assistant is Collette Mullan. Next door is K. and S.
Wonder store.
This shop was
owned for many years by Bobby and Molly McClements. In the 1970s
it was owned for a time by James and Annie Mullan of The Imperial
Hotel. In 1979 the shop was bought by Kenny and Sandra Cooper and
the name was changed to K. and S. Wonder store. Kenny and Sandra
sell paint, furniture and fancy goods. Next door is John Laverty’s
optician and a door further down Mrs Edith Thompson has a florists
shop. This 1932 advert for James Fleming’s blacksmith’s shop
shows that he also made ploughs to order. This video of the late
Jim Fleming was taken in 1990 when he was being interviewed about
his days as manager of Garvagh football club. A Blacksmith’s forge
would have been a popular meeting place and all the gossip of the
town would have been heard there. Willie Graham the watchmaker
started out here until he moved to premises across the road. The
building on the lower side of the chemist shop was one of the oldest
businesses in the town. The Commercial Hotel was established in
1821 by a Daniel O’Kane.
Dan’s brae, the stretch of road above
the police station was named after him. In the 1800s there was a
mail coach which travelled daily between Dungannon and Coleraine.
The Commercial Hotel was a staging post with stabling for horses.
Beside that hotel William McKee was a grocer, newsagent and coal
merchant. A few doors down on the corner of the Limavady Road
was Wades Royal Hotel. This picture was taken on VE day 1945 and
just a few hours later this building was completely destroyed by
fire. This site lay derelict for many years until it was rebuilt
as a car showroom.
In 1986 it
was bought by Tom Fleming and became Central Electrics. Just around the corner is
Victor’s barbers shop. Victor Gregg, as well as being a barber is
also a great Country and Western singer and entertainer. The
young man having his hair cut is Sam Watt. Beside Victors Joe
O’Neill had a blacksmiths shop and around this area Willie Cathcart
also had one. Before the last war there were at least three
blacksmiths in the town. The other corner of the Limavady Road
has also changed greatly in recent times. This building was for
many years a shop owned by T. B. Thompson who was a family grocer
and hardware merchant. That T.B. was T.B.F. Thompson’s father.
Before the last war Thompson’s had cars for hire and were also
agents for Moneymore lime. That shop has lately been
transferred into a house, the home of Sean and Ramona Mullan. The
next business down the street was that of Marcus Dickson, a tea and
coffee merchant, family grocer and provision merchant. Above
these premises, Paddy Hasson had a barbers shop.
That building was pulled down in the Spring of 2001 and at present
is a car park for the Imperial Hotel. The Imperial Hotel was established in
1887 and was in the 1930s described as the most famous country hotel
in Ulster. In 1908 the hotel was owned by Albert Moore and his
wife Martha Annie. In 1909 their daughter Molly who was a keen
golfer met and married Sergeant William Fitz-simons who came from
Co. Longford. The Fitz-simons were in charge until 1947 when the
hotel was sold to Cornel Adams. Cornel Adams was there for a
short time when it was sold to Tommy McCracken, then to John Eddie
Mullan and then to James and Annie Mullan Today the Imperial is in
the hands of James son Seamus his wife Gretta and family. Beside
the Imperial is The Northern Bank. This new building went
up in the early 1970s and was at that time managed by Mr.
David Livingstone.
Another popular manager was Ed Woolsley who has now got a thriving business in Agadowey
growing strawberries. Ed arranges his planting operation in
such a way as to ensure that there is a continuous crop of
strawberries throughout the Spring and Summer, May to October.
Special Bees are brought in from Holland to pollinate the plants.
The young lady picking is Dianne Linton and she will also be
responsible for weighing and packaging. This fruit will go to
local supermarkets and Ed is fortunate that he has a ready
market for all the strawberries he can produce. In an
apartment above the Northern Bank Arthur Kerr has a dental practice.
On the wall is a picture of Doc Holliday, the gun fighting dentist
who took part in the gunfight at the OK corral in Tombstone Arizona
in 1881. It was on this site that Jimmy Lynn
had a pub. The business next to the bank still bears the
name Workman above the door although it is a long time since Sammy,
John and Robert Workman were here. The
hardware business now belongs to William Moore and has a reputation
for having everything you could want. Jeffery Hunter was
recently on the Gerry Anderson show talking about an unusual item.
Garvagh History Page 4 |
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