The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE end of this week will also mark the end of an era, with Cassley Meats in Cronan Gardens closing its doors for the last time.
Speaking this week Paddy Cassley said that it is time for him to move on from the business which he has put a huge amount of his time into for decades.
“Of course I’ll miss it, but I won’t miss the late nights, all the late hours, I won’t miss that bit of it. You’d miss the customers, the bit of craic and the chat. You’d miss the different characters and things like that.”
He was still a boy himself when he got involved in the family business.
“I started butchering when I was 11 or 12, I was breaking beef, boning and doing roasts and making sausages and all of that.
“I left school then, when I was 14. I’ve been working long hours all my life, and it’s time to take a step back now.
“I’ll be doing the wholesale side, I have some orders, catering orders and that, and I’ll be sticking with them for now, I only have to work a couple of days a week at that.”
While he is getting out of the business at a relatively early age, he has family commitments that he needs time for now, and which he is looking forward to fulfilling.
“My eldest son has autism and he’s in the Dulick Centre for the last couple of years, but that’ll be coming to an end, probably next year and I need more time. My wife gave up ten or 12 years of her career when he was small, when he was a lot worse than he is now. I’m quite looking forward to bringing him surfing, horse riding, swimming, days out here and there, I’m really looking forward to it.”
In his early years as a butcher the work was a little less demanding, with consumer preferences and choices much more limited.
“Back then it was a lot simpler. There’s lots of varieties now, lots of options, lots of value added products and they all take a bit of time. All that stuff takes time, it eats up your time.
“It’s not that I don’t like doing it, I do. But when you look at the clock and it’s 8pm and you know you have two or three hours work ahead of you before you can go home, because if you don’t get it done it won’t be on the counter facing the customer.
“I’m quite happy to have done all the years I’ve done, I’ve no regrets, I’ve done very well, and I’m able now to take a step back.”
While he had always planned to get out of the business early, he says Covid moved things on a little bit, as work was incredibly intense during it.
“I knew there was a goal line there, it would have been a few years from now, but Covid was a compounding factor, Covid burnout. During the lockdown I was working crazy hours, 100 hours a week for ten weeks, 110 hours even.”
“The restaurants were closed, the takeaways were closed. We would have a lot of older customers at this stage and they had nowhere to go, they were buying double and treble of what they’d normally be buying.
“It wasn’t about money, it was about providing the service, making sure no one was left stuck. There was a lot of people panicking at the time and I don’t regret doing it.
“Luckily none of us had Covid, we didn’t have to lock down at all, but I didn’t get to see any of my family, aunts or uncles or anything, didn’t even get to talk to them on Zoom because when you’re working those hours you’re sleeping the rest of the hours. I said I’d move things forward for a year or two.”
Paddy is now in the fortunate position of having made a major life decision without any doubt that he has done the right thing.
“There’s one thing in life you can’t buy and that’s time. I’m happy with my decision.
“Customers are coming in and saying it’s a sad day, and I am a bit sad to see the shop closing but I’m not sad to be making a bit of time.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
