The old town!

Storminateacup

What's your memories of Tullamore back when you were only a young one?

Dusty87

Storminateacup wrote: »

What's your memories of Tullamore back when you were only a young one?

like ya said in the other thread, Hook Finlays. Only place in town that would sell a 10 year old ten Benson and a box of matches The old cinema too. Where the apartments are beside bridge centre:)

Storminateacup

Hmm I don't remember a cinema there... 1at movie I ever seen was pocohontas!

That dirty old town park.

Cherrycola

:D Love it!

Yeah, i remember the old cinema where the flats are at Dunnes car park now, across from Loughreys old off licence. We used to 'sneek' our younger siblings in under the counter as we were paying(all the while the guy collecting the tickets was watching us, but he never said anything!)

Do ya remember when the cinema was in the Market square?? Where Fergie's bar is now. And then years later it was The Shambles, loads of young local bands played there, upstairs. Dying Isis(sp?) was one i remember. Jaysus im old!!

My ma and da remember when the Ritz Cinema was in high street, at the entrance to Roselawn, think its an auctioneers now. I remember when it was The Bookmark shop.

Talbots sweet shop on Patrick st, and the record shop that was beside it, cant remember the name.
Tuttys shop in High St, and Walters!!!

O Reillys bakery on Harbour st, the best cream buns in town!

aaah, great days! :P

Cherrycola

Actually, check out Tullamore Pictures on Facebook, the More Old Pics album has pics of the old cinema in the Market Sq, Talbots shop, Gorrys.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.102948506435775.4230.100001618770828&type=3

Hope that link works, if not, just search facebook for tullamore pictures.

Storminateacup

Aha! Talbots - my daddy bought me a brunch icecream in there, one day we came out of the credit union. I was about 6, and my god if it wasn't the vilest thing I ever tasted.

There was a shop across the road with really rude postcards. There was a wool shop behind it, next door to de bruns.

Don't ever remember the cinema than where it is now.

Brackens sweet shop on a Sunday morning, 100 penny sweets please, then when he'd be at about 85 tell him you didnt want them anymore.

I remember dusty joining a class I used to go to, on Wednesday evenings. Him and another boy. He was the cuter of the two tho ha.

Phil O Reillys for 99s during the summer.

The ambulance driving into the doors of the Phoenix arms, shortly before it closed.

Offalygal1

Remember when the court hotel was only a field and the cottage on the corner beside it. Vaguely remember the cinema where the apartments are down from loughreys. Remember when dunnes stores was where elverys is now.... Williams Waller mill etc, which is now main street........probably will remember loads more when people post them and go "oh yea I remember that"!!!!!!!:)

mitsuko045

Does anyone remember the outdoor pool while it was still open? Used to live on Church road and we used to go there during the summer, bring towels and sit out on the grass!

My last memory of being there was being in that bloody FREEZING pool for so long my lips turned blue and my sister getting stung by the MASSIVE hornets nest in one of the changing rooms.
The next summer the pool was vandalised and it never reopened.

I've since heard horror stories about that pool, including a girl who cut her foot open on glass in it!
Needless to say it didn't take long before our parents started to bring us to Portarlington or Clara to go swimming instead!

An Ri rua

Cherrycola wrote: »

:D Love it!

Do ya remember when the cinema was in the Market square?? Where Fergie's bar is now. And then years later it was The Shambles, loads of young local bands played there, upstairs. Dying Isis(sp?) was one i remember. Jaysus im old!!

My ma and da remember when the Ritz Cinema was in high street, at the entrance to Roselawn, think its an auctioneers now. I remember when it was The Bookmark shop.

aaah, great days! :P

I remember my Da wondering whether he should bring me to see Abba, the movie in the Ritz Cinema. I was 6, it was under 7's accompanied !!! 1979 :-D I got to go eventually. Saw the original Muppets movie in the same cinema I think?

I think at one stage, brief moment, all three cinemas were open together. Definitely two were for a while.

Tuttys, God, we used to swarm that place from the Brothers. Speaking of which, when kids weren't treated like wusses by their parents, does anyone remember HOW MAD the exodus from the Brothers onto High Street used to be? before they opened the gates opposite Furlong's Field (Court Hotel)? It was like the Tour de France meets Billy Connolly's Michael jackson Thriller / Glasgow docks analogy.....!!

Dusty87

mitsuko045 wrote: »

I've since heard horror stories about that pool, including a girl who cut her foot open on glass in it!
Needless to say it didn't take long before our parents started to bring us to Portarlington or Clara to go swimming instead!

Yea some young one jumped in and there was a broken bottle in the pool. All the scobes used to drink and do whatever there at night!!!

I remember dusty joining a class I used to go to, on Wednesday evenings. Him and another boy. He was the cuter of the two tho ha.

:o:o awww shucks...
Olives or something wasnt it? I was fairly handy at it too:D:P

Dusty87

Not too long ago but Lifestyle Sports. I remember feeling like i was in Dublin with our new 'BIG' sports shop:D

hairynipple

Mollys Bar in the old dunnes stores

Storminateacup

Yeah it was Olives!!! I remember getting kicked out of that class one day cause she sent 4 of us to the corridor to practice and I ran up onto the stage and pulled the cd player out and was back down befor she got out to us.
Did it the second time and was just skidding to a halt as she opened the door. Caught rotten ha.

Guill

Pats Bar!

Coolaboy

Sunday Night and going to Koos........and Jimmy Carters Chips and battered sausages. HAppy
days then with no worries.

IrishHomer

"Spiders Nite Club! and then "Wiseguys"

Cherrycola

Or as it was more commonly known, 'THE Spiders'!

Quazzie

Cherrycola wrote: »

Or as it was more commonly known, 'THE Spiders Cattle Mart'!

FYP

Offalygal1

Stringfellows...more recently the core or the palace!

the old garda station that was two houses side by side and the old fire station beside it.

the old town park that used to flood every winter without fail(anyone who went to scoil mhuire or scoil bhride would defo remember it)
old quinnsworth... when chancery lane was an old country lane and you would never meet a car....

The Scawgeen

IrishHomer wrote: »

"Spiders Nite Club! and then "Wiseguys"

Showing my age here now but I remember when it was Hayes disco and Tony Fox was resident DJ.

Stavro Mueller

The shop at the top of High Street that used to have a tractor on the roof. Can't remember the name of the business.
Going for burger & chips as a kid to Captain Zoom's. When I got a bit older, attempting to browse in the record shop on Patrick Street and being asked "Are you looking for anything in particular" roughly .0065645 seconds after darkening the doors.
Morris's which was a long narrow shop wooden floorboards and this wonderful gizmo carrying money that used to shuttle up and down on some sort of wire.
Being able to go shopping in Dunne's (where Elvery's is now) and there being parking spaces at the gable end.

Dusty87

That little old man that used to be in the box selling fuel. Beside the Brewery Tap. Poor divil got a bad doing one night i think.

Dusty87

I can remember when the Liam McCarthy Cup was in Tullamore, all them years ago. Them were the days:(:(

Storminateacup

Brollie Walshe? Some Rot from Ardan View burnt him out after breaking into the place.

Father Gerry got attacked by rot shortly after that too, the guy who done it died two years ago aswell. Freaky.

I remember there being some sort of market in kilbride street yonks ago, more specfically, there being a horse and carriage flying up and down the street with Santa in the driving seat. Was not allowed to ride on it though

Dusty87

Storminateacup wrote: »

Brollie Walshe? Some Rot from Ardan View burnt him out after breaking into the place.

Father Gerry got attacked by rot shortly after that too, the guy who done it died two years ago aswell. Freaky.

Karma a b1tch...

I remember there being some sort of market in kilbride street yonks ago, more specfically, there being a horse and carriage flying up and down the street with Santa in the driving seat. Was not allowed to ride on it though

I remeber them selling carpets there and stuff like that. That could be 19 or 20 year ago cos i barely remember it until you said it.

eggy81

The chariot snooker hall.the unicorn bar in old dunnes stores.paddy mccormacs/long fellow.Tom kane sports behind debruns.high street house.moorehill house on Clara road.kellys shop in harbour street.avonmore building across from wolftrap which became acc bank.esb shop beside wolftrap which was where Texas was at first.old quinsworth.I have a vague memory of old quinsworth being called Tesco at one time.was this the case?

The Scawgeen

I remember Mrs Daltons second hand clothes shop beside the Manor, she stocked beautiful coats like the 50's film stars used to wear and she had fabulous hats and snakeskin bags in the window. I suppose if she were around today it'd be called a Vintage clothing shop. I used to go in to look at the old clothes from the 50's and 60's. My friends used to be mortified and wouldn't come in with me, they'd wait down the street.

B1gft

I remember the credit union when it was on high street. I think Des Smyth was manager. Kilroys selling videos. Sean Gilson also rented them in the market square. The very large market, I think once a week in O'Connor Square. The Ritz Cinema, some one said there was an auctioneers there now. That was the bookmark the ritz would have being beside it, which is now the entrance for Roselawn.
I remember being in the manor pub and asking the great Willie Nolan (X Offaly goal keeper, who was barman there) who was the guy that always sat at the end of the counter, but only drank coffee, took calls on the phone and disappeared out the door, when he got the call. He said he was a chap called Liam McGuinness who had started a part time taxi business and used the manors phone as his his contact number. We feel off the stool laughing at the idea of a taxi in Tullamore, thinking the business would never take off. (found out afterwards there was two, part time taxi business's i town)

Think thats bad, there was a pizza cafe on high street, did not last. Someone said there was a Chinese restaurant going in there. Guess what, we laughed at that too, people from Tullamore eating Chinese, never last. That was where the amber was (dont know what its called now)

Gleesons department store, where the mall is. Billy Champs, where supermacs is. Bolgers Hotel, patrick street. Just about remember the bridge, when it was a large shop. (Could be dreaming on that one, but I think I do) The tech (now Tullamore Collage), in O Connor square and the brothers, cbs, when they also had a primary school. You had to pay to go to it.

The tractor someone said was on top of a shop, was on Ken Roberts, top of high street.

Billy Kellys (Getleman) blacksmiths forge. 5 star supermarket. Willie Hoctor was manager. Behind it was the murals pub. Both, I think, was owed by williams.

And I am only 102 49.

medoc

Wow what memories some things make me feel real old but then some of them are from before my time so i can still feel young . I remember Dunnes on the corner where elverys are now with an upstairs part also. I used to come into town with my granny and grandad and he would go into Willams Waller ( where Main street is now), and Granny would buy me sweets in a shop on patrick street that had a clothes shop beside it and i think there was a door connecting the two.

eggy81 wrote: »

I have a vague memory of old quinsworth being called Tesco at one time.was this the case?

I think the old tesco shop was out where the old dunnes shopping centre is now.

I remember (I think) bolgers also and the barman was fairly small and could bend down and walk under the flap at the end of the bar.

Stavro Mueller

medoc wrote: »

I think the old tesco shop was out where the old dunnes shopping centre is now..

That's right. Before or after that, it was H Williams. I could be way off beam here but I think that shopping centre was originally built with H Williams as the anchor back in the mid 80s.

An Ri rua

cymbaline wrote: »

That's right. Before or after that, it was H Williams. I could be way off beam here but I think that shopping centre was originally built with H Williams as the anchor back in the mid 80s.

Yes, the old dunnes Stores was originally H Williams. Built around 83-85 ?

The original Quinnsworth was where DE Williams had their stores, on Patrick Street, between the DEW office building (some school of music now) and quigleys. That whole stretch more or less. Was quite swish in its time. I was a v v small nipper, mind. A twinkle.:D

Stavro Mueller

That's going back a little bit before my time. Would I be right in saying then that the original Quinnsworth shop then became their toy store in the mid 80s? Maybe it sold other stuff as well but all I was interested in were the toys My mum definitely bought me a Lolo Ball in there. Oh to be as aerobically fit now as I was then...:eek:

Rabidlamb

I too remember the old Quinnsworth on Patrick Street & The Ritz Cinema on the High Street.
Anyone remember the remains of the old workhouses where the Midland Health Board offices are on Arden Road (just before O'Brien Park).
Old band hall & The DeMonfred Hall near the Priest House.

Walking across the frozen canal during the Winter of 81/82.
Walking across the dry canal during the scorching summer of 85ish.

Ah, the open air swimming pool out the Church road on the left.
Remember some girl going sunbathing on the high diving board one year before it was filled.
Think she rolled over in her sleep, bad outcome anyway.
Shamie McDonagh (local mad lad) in the see through y-fronts chasing the kids around the pool.
Oh happy days

An Ri rua

Rabidlamb wrote: »

I too remember the old Quinnsworth on Patrick Street & The Ritz Cinema on the High Street.
Anyone remember the remains of the old workhouses where the Midland Health Board offices are on Arden Road (just before O'Brien Park).
Old band hall & The DeMonfred Hall near the Priest House.

Walking across the frozen canal during the Winter of 81/82.
Walking across the dry canal during the scorching summer of 85ish.

Ah, the open air swimming pool out the Church road on the left.
Remember some girl going sunbathing on the high diving board one year before it was filled.
Think she rolled over in her sleep, bad outcome anyway.
Shamie McDonagh (local mad lad) in the see through y-fronts chasing the kids around the pool.
Oh happy days

Yeh I remember my cousin walking the canal in 81/82. That was bitter cold, but not for long. He also walked the frame of the footbridge when they had closed it off and there were no boards on the bridge!! Lots of mad yokes did that !!

The hot summer was 1984> i remember because we'd just bought a farm and had to pick the stones!! Cycling our bikes with a battery radio in a cardboard box on the carrier listening to KC & the sunshine Band 'Baby Give it Up'. I will never forget it! Great memory. Played it today http://youtu.be/OE-r-Tbg9g0 JUly 83 says the video but it got a lot of airplay in 84. Why wouldn't it ??

B1gft

Rabidlamb
Anyone remember the remains of the old workhouses where the Midland Health Board offices are on Arden Road (just before O'Brien Park).

That was known as the county home. They had a room at the back yard, where tramps could sleep for a night.They were giving a slice of bread and a cup of tea. It could have being built as an old "poorhouse" But that I dont know for sure. The main part, in the 70s, was I think like an old folks home.

Old band hall & The DeMonfred Hall near the Priest House.
I did Karate in the DeMonfred. That was where the CBS had their first school, before moving to High Street. (before my time, but I know people who went there)

Anyone remember the discos on a sunday afternoon in the GAA centre, or am I dreaming?

Great memories, keep them coming

The Scawgeen

Have a faded memory of smoking in the corridor outside the maternity unit in the Hospital and getting an earful from Sister Paddi circa 1979.

caseyjones01

great thread guys and gals. As a person who grew up in tullamore in the seventies and eighties this thread brings back very fond memories of the town I loved so well. Still get to visit but it has all changed since my time.

From the kilbeggan bridge. Remember Tommy Glynns garage, O Dowds pub and the sweet shop that was under in then replaced by a bookies. Then you had Dolans pub, brackens sweet shop and then Jimmy doyles and a launderette I think. Across the rd was kellys where dad got his petrol in the beetle and then you had old texas and remember the video shop beside there and we would go in looking for ones under the counter lol. then there was a bun shop and mizzonis chipper. On the opposite corner was the co op and reillys nxt to that. Outside reillys was a phone box where we used to go to ring our Aunt in Dublin.i think there was a shop called tyrells also on that street where dad used to buy a bottle of lemonade and bring it home to us . A little woman used own it.And across the rd gorrys and the butchers mahons I think

Remember egans shoe shop on William st and the little man who used to fix shoes, I was friendly with one of the egan lads so used to play ball in the yard, what a novelty. Then across the rd was mrs Dunne, the sacristans wife who used make the birthday cakes. Conways wool shop and gleesons across the rd and gilsons on the corner. Nxt door to thsat on patrick st you had the oAsis bun shop where mum would take me after shopping in five star. Opposite there was McFaddens and on the corner near the bridge hse was a shoe shop i think, real posh place and over the road billy champ and the way he might look at you.
Brilliant memories, I could go on and on. the tanyard and mangans bikes or wher the old renault garage was where the bridge centre is now, I think brolly owned it. And the fair the 1st friday of each month.
And I only forty this september

The Scawgeeen

There was a record shop close to Talbot's sweet shop run by a man called Willie does anybody remember the name of it ? He used to sell hippy looking stuff like sheepswool handbags and the odd kaftan and leather wrist bands and heavy metal skull rings and of course the records of the day.

Cherrycola

I remember it alright, was it just called the Record & Tape Centre? That name rings a bell for some reason.

The Scawgeeen

It could have been, that sounds familiar.

Stavro Mueller

That was on Patrick Street, right? If that's the one, I used to go in there to browse around as a teenager and would be asked within 30 seconds if I was looking for anything in particular. (Not to be asked stupid questions by a shop assistant perhaps? ). When Heartbeat City came along, it was sheer bliss. Less of your country and Irish tat, better selection of music for the young people and shop assistants who left you alone.

The Scawgeen

I think we're all in agreement we're talking about the same record shop, (the 'Advance Records' of it's day in Tullamore :eek: ) where all the 'cool' people hung out. Looking through rose tinted glasses I don't remember too many punks on Patrick Street though.....skinheads yes, I can remember seeing a fair few of them in the late 70's in Tullamore.

superblu

The old handball alley near the Whitehall bridge and the weighbridge in Market square.

Red Belly

Heavy's cattle yard in Chapel Street. Being late for school in the brudders one morning cause of Gleesons burning down. Walking under the canal at the barney. Auld fellas cutting the grass on the canal banks by hand with scythes. The hordes descending on the old church for the solemn novena run by the limerick priests. Fr. Fallon roaring AMEN when he wasn't happy with the enthusiasm of the congregation's responses at mass and someone shouting AWOMEN back at him once. Mass in the Tech Gym while the church was being rebuilt. Eddie Kidd's motorcycle stunt show in O'Connor Park. Josie Daly's old shop with a step on the customer's side of the counter for kids to reach the sweets.

offaly1

superblu wrote: »

The old handball alley near the Whitehall bridge and the weighbridge in Market square.

God....i forgot all about the weighbridge:eek:

erronagh

anyone have memories of kilroys store back then staff or any memories i spent time back there when all the world was young and wonderful we dined in john blacks house on arden road for lunch cost 5 bob i think

Steven81

Jimmy Carters chips, couldn't beat them.

Lucena

cymbaline wrote: »

The shop at the top of High Street that used to have a tractor on the roof. Can't remember the name of the business.

Tullamore Motor Works. :cool: