The village of Carrigaholt on the Loop Head Peninsula has marked the end of an era with the closure of Keane’s grocery shop on October 1. For generations, Keane’s shop has been an essential resource for the community as well as a popular and often photographed shop for the many visitors to the area.
Situated across the road from the pier and Carrigaholt Castle, it has operated in the same family for 194 years. Although the grocery side of the business has now ceased, the Keane family will continue to operate the bar whilst preserving the traditional look of the shop’s interior.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, proprietor Pakie Keane said it was a “huge decision” to close. The decision was not an easy one for Pakie and Margaret (Mags) Keane to make nor was it a sudden decision.
They had been contemplating it for the last few years, yet always found themselves putting it off for another year, slow to do it because of the unique character of the shop.
“We have been thinking about it for a few years so it is not sudden or anything. We are going to miss it,” he said.
“It has been in my family since 1830, and my father, John Keane took over the house we are in now in 1928. He took over from his uncle Thomas Cahill as a young 17-year-old man; he was born in 1911. My father was from West Street in the village and they were born into a shop there as well so he knew what he was getting into when he took over the shop,” Pakie explained.
In 1941, Pakie’s father decided to knock the premises, take away the thatch and build the two-storey house they are in today.
He sourced all the wood, slates and roof for the build from Ryan’s store on the old pier at Carrigaholt because World War 2 had started and so there was a scarcity of materials. “It was a thatch at the time and ‘twas a bar and a shop. He knocked that and put on another storey. He and my mother reared us there, and all nine of us were born there,” Pakie said.
Pakie’s father build up a great trade there before he passed away in 1992.
Pakie took over the business from his father in the mid 1970s when he too was a 17-year-old. At that time, there were seven such shops operating in the village. He and Mags married in 1989, and the couple have run the business together since rearing their two sons above the shop. Sons Shane and Emmet have liked helping out over the years, and will continue to work the bar alongside their parents.
Factors like the increased popularity of online shopping and the population decline in the area have not helped in running a retail business on the peninsula. Another factor that weighed into the Keane’s decision was the length of their working days as they would open the shop at 10am and then operate until midnight with the bar side of the business, seven days a week. In recent years, they decided to take Wednesday mornings off so as to give themselves a little break.
With Budget 2025 taking place this week and in the run up to a general election, Pakie thinks as lot more could be done by government for small family-owned businesses.
Increased costs like electricity really stung the small retailer in recent years. He gives the example of how the ESB bill cost around 17.9 cent per unit pre-Covid but now costs 35 cent a unit, which is a big draw on the business. As regards local infrastructure, he highlights that a sewerage system which had been promised for the area decades ago has still not been installed.
“We were first mentioned for a sewerage system back in 1957, and I was at a meeting in 1981 when we were told we were second on the list. All the paperwork was done and all the reports including an environmental report,” he said.
“It was costed at €1.2m which is not a lot in today’s money.”
According to Pakie, a sewerage system for the region could have been comfortably paid for with the €1.4m the Office of Public Works recently spent on the security hutch at Leinster House, and a lot of development would come to the village and peninsula were it delivered.
Meanwhile, he urges young people to get involved in their community, and is confident Carrigaholt will see more benefits and positive changes over the next few years due to ongoing work by Carrigaholt Development Association and Loop Head Tourism.
As their shop’s doors close this first week of October, the Keanes extend their thanks to all their customers, friends and those who have worked with them over the last 48 years, many of whom have phoned them to wish them well recalling warm and cherished memories of shopping at Keane’s.
Since announcing the shop’s closure, people who would have attended the Irish College in the past have even called them.
“They loved a bar and a shop [together] and they would never have seen it coming out of a city,” Pakie explained.
Several of their nieces and nephews who worked in the shop during their school holidays have also been in contact sharing a wealth of stories.
With times changing, the Keanes are looking to a bright new future. They plan to adapt the former grocery shop by putting in a long shop counter where people can take their drinks from the pub. The bar will still open every day.
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.