LONG READ: Closing time for a family legacy - McLoughlin’s Hardware bids farewell

After 41 years of serving the people of Nenagh and surrounding areas from Banba Square, McLoughlin’s Hardware is to close its doors, bringing to an end a family enterprise whose origins lie in a small shop and pub opened in Corbally, Portroe, in 1952.

For siblings Celine, Denis, and Laurence McLoughlin, the business was a family enterprise in the truest sense, a tradition shaped by their father Willie and their mother Peg, absorbed in childhood and carried naturally into adult life.

READ MORE: REVIEW: Local drama group deliver memorable ensemble performance in Dancing at Lughnasa

The story began with their father, Willie McLoughlin, who in 1952 purchased a modest shop and adjoining pub in Corbally, Portroe, then known as “The Whalers.”

The premises was located near the local slate quarries, which brought a steady stream of customers and contributed to the bustle of the business. Behind the shop lay a small farm, where the family supplemented their income.

For the McLoughlin children, the shop and pub were both a classroom and a playground, where they learned the rhythms of trade, the value of hard work, and the importance of personal connection with every customer.

Willie McLoughlin learned his trade at McKeogh’s Hardware in Killaloe before opening his own business. He continued working at McKeogh’s for a time while establishing the shop, while Peg managed much of the day-to-day running.

Together, they laid the foundation for a family enterprise that would serve the local community for decades.

Reflecting on his childhood, Laurence McLoughlin said, “I spent the most idyllic years of my childhood watching the comings and goings and rolling events of the community as a young boy living in this small shop and pub.”

In 1967, following the death of Pat Gleeson, the proprietor of a larger nearby shop and pub, Willie purchased the business and its premises, ideally situated near the Tubex factory.

The move allowed for a busier trade, with factory workers and locals frequenting the pub and shop throughout the day. Laurence recalled, “It is no exaggeration to say that back in the 70s there would have been at any given time at least twenty people in the bar with workers coming off shift and locals frequenting the pub as well.” 

Over the next decade, Willie and Peg expanded the shop to include hardware and farming supplies, selling cement, building materials, and fertilisers alongside groceries, creating what the family would later describe as a “one-stop shop” for the community.

In the early days in Portroe, the hardware side of the shop focused on the needs of the farming community. Laurence recalled, “Mostly in the beginning in my father’s shop we were selling to farmers mostly, so we were selling gates, fertiliser and traditional hardware like shovels and pitchforks.”

The shop was a world unto itself, a place where the rhythms of trade and family life intertwined. Laurence remembered the long wooden counter, roughly fifteen feet in length, behind which shelves were stacked with groceries and hardware for farmers, from nails, wire, and fence posts to beef nuts for cattle and layers of mash for hens.

Flour, sugar, tea, coffee, bread, eggs, and bacon were weighed and sold by hand, while Murray’s tobacco was measured out for customers. Sweets were displayed prominently, from gobstoppers and Liquorice Allsorts to penny bars and Cleeve Toffee.

“Mam would scoop out sugar and flour onto the weighing scales, it was usually sold by the pound to the customer,” Laurence said.

“The flour was supplied in a very large linen bag, and when it was emptied and washed, my mother would cut it and re-sew it on her sewing machine to make pillowcases and sheets.”

Laurence McLoughlin, writing in the local historical journal Annals of Arra, recalls one childhood event that has remained vivid for decades. In 1963, when President John F. Kennedy died, the black-and-white television in the pub became the focus of the village. Very few homes in rural Ireland had a television, and Laurence sneaked in to watch the funeral.

“I have no memory of my first day at school but I can vividly recall the day the president of America, John F Kennedy, died and the flurry of activity outside our pub and shop as people congregated to hear the news and watch the funeral on the black and white television screen in the pub,” he said. 

He was fascinated by the horse-drawn carriage carrying the President’s remains. The day became a shared moment for locals, highlighting the shop and pub as a hub for news, community, and connection.

One of the family’s most treasured memories from the 1970s was a visit from Aine O’Connor and the RTE First House television team. Laurence recalled that Aine had spent several days in the area recording local stories and interviewed Jim Ryan, a worker from the slate quarries, about the labour involved in cutting slate. 

After the interview, Aine and her team retired to the pub, and word quickly spread throughout the village. Before long, the pub was filled to capacity with locals eager to witness the filming and enjoy the communal atmosphere. 

That evening, a sing-song unfolded, and a local man, Dinny Flaherty, gave a recitation that deeply impressed Aine. She promised to return to record him, and later that day rang the pub to arrange his performance.

Laurence recalled vividly, “I remember well seeing Dinny leaning on the farm gate in the field near the shop and starting his recitation.” The visit captured the spirit of the McLoughlins’ pub and shop as a centre for stories, music, and local life.

As the decades passed, rural Ireland changed. The 1980s brought economic challenges and depopulation, making it increasingly difficult to maintain the pub. 

Out of the blue, a business source approached Willie McLoughlin with an offer to buy the pub licence, and after careful consideration he agreed. Some years later, an opportunity arose to sell the entire Corbally business.

In June 1998, the McLoughlin family sold the shop and pub to Eric McLennon and left their home for the last time, marking the end of thirty-one years in Corbally and the beginning of a new chapter in Nenagh.

By 1984, Willie McLoughlin, together with his daughter Celine, decided to bring the family business into Nenagh, recognising the need to be closer to a larger population. 

They opened McLoughlin’s Hardware in Banba Square, initially focusing on cookers and gas heaters, drawing on the experience built in Portroe. The people of Nenagh and surrounding areas welcomed them, offering support that helped the business establish itself in its new home. 

Over time, the shop expanded to meet the wider needs of DIY and hardware customers, continuing the family tradition of personal service and community engagement.

Celine McLoughlin recalled those early days with pride. “We came into the town, we were up against two or three more hardware businesses in 1984 and we wondered if we would survive here at all,” she said. 

“But my father was very determined to get on, and the people were very good to support us and all the surrounding areas which my father had good contacts from. People came out to support our business from Portroe.” 

She added, “We did a lot of deliveries and we gave good service to people and we found if you did look after people they came back and supported you, and we had a very successful 41 years in Banba Square and we want to thank everyone for supporting us in the business, they were very good to us.”

Reflecting on a lifetime in the family business, Celine spoke of growing up immersed in the shop. “As children we were all brought into my father and mother’s business from an early age.

I really liked the business and got involved in it at a very young age… you came up with it as a way of life and I enjoyed it every day.”

Lessons that Celine, Denis, and Laurence learned from their parent’s guiding principle, “Always look after people and be helpful to them,” shaped the way they ran the Nenagh shop. Respect, care, and going the extra mile became the foundation of their approach.

Laurence recalled one piece of advice that captured their father’s foresight and the shop’s philosophy: “One thing my father said, no matter how slow an item is selling, always stock one of it, because some day someone will come looking for it.”

This approach was part of a broader vision of the shop as an “Aladdin’s cave", a place where customers could find items that other stores might not carry. It was this combination of practical service, careful attention, and a willingness to go beyond the ordinary that defined the family business and endeared it to generations of customers.

As Celine, Denis, and Laurence step away, it marks the end of an era, a time when shops were run by families rather than corporations, and personal service was at the forefront.

The siblings reflected, “What we will miss most is the people and the daily interactions with our customers. It is their support and loyalty that made this business so special, and we want to thank everyone who has supported us over the years.”

The shop will mark its closing with a retirement sale commencing on the 23rd of February. It is the closing of a shop, and with it, the gentle folding of a family legacy into memory.

READ MORE: Communities can now nominate 'exceptional' young people for Tipperary Garda Youth Awards