Below Workmans
there used to be a cattle grading and weighing station until the
early 1950s. Alfred Clyde started his drapery business here and
next door was Michael brothers grocery, hardware and farm
feeds. David Glen Kerr and Harry Michael had an auctioneers
office here. By the mid 1980s a new gadget had appeared in homes,
the video recorder and twins Georgie and Ronnie Linton had a video
hire store here. The town’s library was also here before it moved
to Bridge Street. That whole area between Workmans and the next
entry is now Bells Supermarket. During 2002 Garvagh street
received a facelift and during this time most of the shops
were experiencing a drop in trade. On the 4th of April
2002 we spoke to Philip Bell. By November 2002 trade had returned
and it was back to business as usual.
On the lower side
of Bells there used to be a lot of businesses one of them was
McNeary’s shop and bakery, famous throughout the town for its fine
quality bread and pastry. This photo taken in the 1950s is Ernie McNeary standing in front of his man-powered bread cart. A
few doors down there was a wool shop and an ice cream parlour, later
a fish and chip shop operated by Nelson Andrews. Next is Royvons
filling station, Jack Thompson and son Allan used to be here and
before that it was owned by Alex Cunningham. Next is the
Ulster bank, managed for many years by Mr. Sam McKee.
The Ulster bank is upwards on 130 years old. Beside
Sidney Sloan’s house a Miss Boyce once had a dressmakers shop. Back up the street opposite the War
Memorial is Update hair studio managed by Maura Doherty assisted by
Laura McLaughlin. Maura has been here since 1998.
On the lower side of the community centre is the sandwich bar
managed by Kathleen Doherty assisted by Caroline Cummings. Two
sisters called Stewart sold stationery here until 1950. This is
where McCloy’s house used to be and on the lower side of the entry
where Hugh Mullan’s butchers was, is Viziare health and beauty
clinic managed by Michelle Doherty. The other young lady is Moyra
Sloan and getting the beauty treatment is Falon Boyd. Next door is
McKinney’s bar. In the McKinney name for many years, this photo is
of the late Peter McKinney’s father. The child is the late Hughie
Mullan. Peter McKinney died in 1991. Next door is B Js fast
food takeaway. This used to be Brown’s confectionery shop, famous,
like Usshers for its fine quality home made ice cream.
The Rev Martin was here as the quick take away, Adrian Bradley was
here until recently and it is now in the hands of Robert Godfrey.
Next is John McKay and son butchers. The original
butchers here were the O’Connell brothers, John McKay married
O’Connell and was butcher in Garvagh for many years. When John McKay died the business
was run by his daughter who employed Tommy Johnston as butcher. It
was later managed by Ronnie McGrath and then McAtamneys who now have
the sole butchery business further down the street. Next is Vivo,
until recently called Jayne’s. There used to be two shops here, Wm
O’Kane solicitors and Millie and Norman McAteer. Jayne Welsh
took over here in 1991 and married Robert Booth in 1995. Norman McAteer’s sister Eileen also had a milliner shop further down beside
Rita Bell’s newsagents shop. Rita died in 2002. The next shop is
on Linton’s corner is now owned by Debbie Hara. This building was
for many years Joey Linton’s shop and was destroyed, like much of
Bridge Street by a terrorist bomb in 1974. John and Martha
Johnston are standing on the spot where their house used to be.
Other families whose homes were destroyed at that time were Patsy
Carton, George Craig and James Wade. The only family living on
Bridge St. now is Henry and Joyce Boreland. Dr Ian Kerr in a
talk given in 1987 said that in the 1930s there were 47 children of
school age living on Bridge Street—today there are none and the
prospects of any are bleak. In the 1930 there were many
self employed people living here. Time does not allow us to name
them on this video but one man worth a mention was Florance Diffin,
a shoemaker and great footballer. He died on Bridge St. in 1958.
The other
corner was known as Stewart’s corner, named after The Stewart
brothers who described themselves as automobile Engineers and Bus
Proprietors. That building later became Jack Thompson’s and was
also destroyed by the bomb. The late Norman McLeod owned this for a
time The only business on Bridge Street now is McLenaghan’s garden
centre. Jim Calvin had a pub here, this picture of his son Trevor
was taken a short time before he was tragically killed in
1976. The next shop down is McLenaghan’s brothers and
is part of the garden centre. Part of this shop used to
belong to Alfred L. Mann a grocer and hardware merchant. Next door
is Angles, a hairdressing salon the proprietor is Gillian Knight.
The Country Bakery is where The Post Office used to be and The
Central House Restaurant used to be Dallas’s shop. A new business
to the town is The Podiatric Clinic and next door brothers Drew and
Gregg Gurney run D.Gs Fashions a popular shopping place for young
and old alike. This area belonged to John Littles. During the
last war Peacocks had a café here. A few doors down was Dorans
second hand clothes shop. The Turn Inn Bar was formely Mickey
McNichol’s pub. In earlier days it was owned by his mother’s
family the Boylands, it was also a travel agency. Mickey’s wife
Susie had a shoe shop here and Giddy McLeod also had a saddlers
business. The pub was later taken over by Don Turner and is now
managed by Wendy Smyth. The next business is McAtamney’s butchers.
The butcher once here was Gordon Ussher, later George Hogg and
later Don Turner. The four butchers in the picture are John,
Thomas, Colin and Paul. Beside the butchers Mrs Roy Watley has a
dry cleaning business. Raymond McAteer established his
electronic engineering business in 1966 and is pictured here with
his wife Mary and neighbour Sidney Sloan. A few doors down Raymond
and Annie Connor have a Bed and Breakfast and the next establishment
is Maguires pub. Owned for many years by Jetty O’Kane, this was a
popular bar and was sold to Gerard O’Kane in the 1980s. Beside
Maguires was McLaughlins shop and the last business on this side is
Trolans filling station and supermarket. This used to belong to the
late Sam Wilson and later to Colm Bradley. We would like to thank
everyone who provided photographs or helped in any way during this
production and look forward to your help again.
Garvagh History Page 5 |
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