Growing up in Drogheda

johnkierans · 04-06-2013 7:53pm

drogheda has changed so so much in the last 10 years.. i grew up in the early 90 - mid 90s..

mr ace for parka jackets and ox blood doc martins
live and learn - quigleys owed that place and i got an Amiga 500 for christmas well in those days it was between the family.. loved it so much. games where like £50 unheard to get them unless it was xmas or birthday.
Big shout out to Sandra and the girls in Mcdonalds video store in the oulster lane. amazing summer nights picking films for hours upon hours also a social place to bring your dog funnily enough. if you wanted a 12+ they would even ring your home telephone and ask your mam was it ok to rent it to you haha my cousin came in very handy for that thanks Mairead!

johnkierans · 04-06-2013 7:56pm

brookville shop when the Northern's took over around 90 - 91ish amazing Pirate Movies galore way ahead of anywhere else and plus 20 copies of every new film, rubbish quality but it felt cool watching grainy unreleased movies..

Ron Smith · 22-07-2014 8:42am

In__tuition wrote: »

Before he ventured into preaching he was a multi-millionaire who was in a place crash, totally changed him, think he donated everything to charity and decided on God.

No idea where he is now.

I'm alive and well and living in Wexford and I had no place crash, rather it was a crash involving a plaNe. Any response? Love Ron (ps. everyone does!)

moonshadow · 22-07-2014 8:46am

Ron Smith wrote: »

I'm alive and well and living in Wexford and I had no place crash, rather it was a crash involving a plaNe. Any response? Love Ron (ps. everyone does!)

If this is the real Ron smith , prove it by telling me your mum and dads leisurely pastime in their latter years ?
I knew them btw.

Ron Smith · 22-07-2014 9:03am

Hi, well hello there. I have to say that that reply was QUICK. Yes, I am the real Ron Smith. I stood for The General Election in '87 and I preached "on the steps" around that time. I did not however paint kiddies faces, but for a time I did read Grimms Fairytales on Saturday afternoons.
My father Henry died 15/12/11 and he always claimed to be a farmer, my mother (Jenifer) laterly in her life was a resident in a nursing home in Castlebellingham, she (without any qualifications) was a swimming instructress at home in Piperstown.
Hoping that the above satisfies your curiosity as to my genuiness.
Looking forward to hearing from you in just amoment and would you identify yourself? Thanks, Ron

Ron Smith · 23-07-2014 10:40am

Ron Smith wrote: »

Hi, well hello there. I have to say that that reply was QUICK. Yes, I am the real Ron Smith. I stood for The General Election in '87 and I preached "on the steps" around that time. I did not however paint kiddies faces, but for a time I did read Grimms Fairytales on Saturday afternoons.
My father Henry died 15/12/11 and he always claimed to be a farmer, my mother (Jenifer) laterly in her life was a resident in a nursing home in Castlebellingham, she (without any qualifications) was a swimming instructress at home in Piperstown.
Hoping that the above satisfies your curiosity as to my genuiness.
Looking forward to hearing from you in just amoment and would you identify yourself? Thanks, Ron

Do we have any wish to communicate? Ron

barneysplash · 03-08-2014 1:46pm

Recently, my brother found a copy of a special edition of
the Drogheda Independent from 1984, a few years before my time.

It was a commemorating 100 years of the paper.

Here are a few of the ads and pics from it:

The Mosney computer room, don't remember it myself:

Drogheda Independent printing equipment - check out the big floppy disk:

Fantasy Gardens nightclub:

I don't know whats worse the jumpers or the hair!
Check out the "tart's glass" for the lady - proper order

Check out the local company phone number written in pen on the
generic Mita promotional graphic. No need for Photoshop!

Hodgins Hairdressing - more like hedgehog hairdressing!

The Swan Inn - spent many a night there when it was Man Fridays / Fusion.
Would love to see some photos of it when it was a restaurant.

The Central - "Enjoy a drink in comfortable surroundings" Good to see
that some things never change. Oh wait...

Hold yourselves back girls...

What is "Swiss food" - Fondu and Toblerone?

Time for a game of Chucky Egg!

Try getting some of this lot past the Food Safety Authority today!

Jesus - she looks like the image of the woman's face on the
stone in Magdeline Tower - spooky!

barneysplash · 04-08-2014 10:40am

Here's another few bits from other discussions over the years:

Drogheda has a special kind of nickname - the family nickname.

"He's one of the Rook Rooney's from Newfield. I was in the Joe's with his brother."

"Ask Labba Hand, he was there in West street when Louth won the All-Ireland in '57."

Family Name - Rooney
Nickname - "Rook"
Explanation - Named after the bird.

Family Name - Millar
Nickname - "Dusty" or "Windy"
Explanation - Flour millers were usually covered in dust and worked in Windmills.

Family Name - Hand
Nickname - "Labba"
Explanation - From the Irish "lamha" meaning hand.

Family Name - Kelly
Nickname - "Choke the chicken"
Explanation - I don't know where this one comes from, do you? Maybe someone
in the family worked on a farm processing chickens for butchers.

Family Name - Donnelly
Nickname - "Saus"
Explanation - A local butcher, Donnelly, was famous for his saus-ages

The Abbey Shopping Centre

Mildred's- This was an American themed diner. They had real hot-dogs,
the big orange kind you'd see people eating on the streets of New York
in the movies. There was also the rude-sounding and delicious
Knickerbocker Glory ice-creams. Apparently this was also the first place in
Drogheda to offer an exotic dish called Lasagne.

The Book Shop - I don't remember the name of the bookshop that was
across from Mildred's, but it was a great little shop. There were always loads of
books on display and you were encouraged to take them off the shelves and
have a look. I remember just before I got the internet, the man in the shop
would order in Star Trek paperbacks from England for me. He'd take out this big
ledger and fill in the details. He'd give me a call "in a couple of weeks" and I'd
come in and pick it up. In today's world of kindles and e-books and the like, this must seem very quaint.

Harpo's Clothing Store - This was the coolest men's clothes shop in Drogheda. If you were a young
man about town this was the place to get your threads. The dance music and Manchester music scenes in
the 1990's lead to a whole new raft of styles - overly baggy jeans, vibrant coloured t-shirts, puffy jackets,
big chunky boots and even bigger belt buckles.
I remember buying my very first pair of "X-worx" baggy jeans
here. They were so cool. Some other brands I remeber include:

Joe Bloggs - Jeans with the big whte BLOGGS patch down the leg.
Naff Naff - Black windbreakers.
Juice - Colourful t-shirts.
Petro Motion - super baggy jeans.
IF by Fila - Cool jeans - always wanted a pair.
Fuentes jeans - Vibrant coloured jeans, I had a mad bright red pair.
Admiral - As worn by Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays.
Umbro - Man Utd and Liverpool three-quarter length padded jackets.
Pepe Jeans - These came with a plastic key-ring that had a plastic spring
you would keep your house key on - if you could be trusted to have a house key.
LA Kings - US ice hockey team - popular with gangster rappers.
LA Raiders - American football team, again popular with bad-boys from
South Central or Brookville

Johno's Shop in Magdeline Street.
Many a "quarter of apple pips and two packets of A-team tayto"
were bought here by myself and my school chums.

But did you ever by a "bag of viz"? This was the sugar and broken sweets
from the bottom of the big jars. You could get a big bag of this stuff for 10p.
You'd munch on this making your way back to school and wait for the
hyperactivity to start.

You'd probably be brought to court today if you tried
to sell something like that today.

tribalwings wrote: »

Does anyone remember hiring a Sega Megadrive from McDonnells in Oulster Lane ?

I had a Megadrive at home, and when I wouldn't study for my Junior Cert, my parents would take away the controller and hide it.
I'd rent a controller from McDonnells and be back hunting tanks in the desert in no time he he.

tribalwings wrote: »

Or going in to look at all the fancy computers and electronics in that shop beside where Abrakebabra is now in Narrow West St. Can't think of the name of it.

That shop was Hardy Electricals. They had a selection of games for all consoles and computers there. Bought my first Amstrad disk
game there - Smash TV, brilliant game.

The Live and Learn in Stockwell Street - They had a massive selection of cassette tape games for all computers. I didn't
have a tape deck in my computer, but loads of pals who did would go and buy a game, put it in a twin cassette deck stereo
and copy it onto a blank tape. They'd then go back to the shop and get a refund because "the tape didn't work". Scamps!

Was anyone ever in the B+B at the entrance to Narrow West street? I think it was called the "West End House". They
used to have biscuit tins and chocolate boxes on display in the window, very odd. Probably the kind of place ran by some
nice old dear who would murder you in your sleep and and make you into rashers for the other guests breakfasts.

Scoil na Boinne - The school summer holidays prison camp ran in St. Oliver's.
What better way to spend scorching hot summer holidays than in a classroom filled with complete strangers speaking broken Irish?

Muahahaha · 02-12-2014 7:24pm

Trafford Lad wrote: »

^ Yep Derek & Stanley...Derek was (briefly) in my class at one stage......scary...and that mad rabid dog that they had out in their yard that used to terrorise anyone passing by. Just had a flashback to Loughran's chipper at lunchtime... mad busy..everyone getting chips and scallops-I can still smell the ketchup...:)

Derek Buchan just popped up in a piece on the RTE Six One news today. He was a friend of the homeless man who died just outside Leinster House in the early hours of yesterday morning. It'll be repeated at 9pm and is on the Player

Ron Smith wrote: »

Hi, well hello there. I have to say that that reply was QUICK. Yes, I am the real Ron Smith. I stood for The General Election in '87 and I preached "on the steps" around that time. I did not however paint kiddies faces, but for a time I did read Grimms Fairytales on Saturday afternoons.
My father Henry died 15/12/11 and he always claimed to be a farmer, my mother (Jenifer) laterly in her life was a resident in a nursing home in Castlebellingham, she (without any qualifications) was a swimming instructress at home in Piperstown.
Hoping that the above satisfies your curiosity as to my genuiness.
Looking forward to hearing from you in just amoment and would you identify yourself? Thanks, Ron

Your mum taught me how to swim, as she did many in Drogheda I'd say.

SCOL · 14-07-2017 4:28pm

A homeless man lay dead in Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green for a number of hours before he was discovered, an inquest heard.
Derek Buchan (39) originally from Drogheda, Co Louth had no permanent address but used homeless hostels in the city, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard.
He was found lying face down in foliage at the Leeson Street end of St Stephen’s Green on January 30th, 2016.
It was beginning to get dark as Park Constable David Morgan and his three colleagues were locking the park at 4.20pm, the court heard.
“I was locking the two small gates at the Leeson Street end of the park around when I saw a person lying in the bushes. I saw the figure of a man lying face down,” Mr Morgan said.
‘Free spirit’
He noted drug paraphernalia and attempted to rouse the man before calling emergency services, he said.
“It was an area where people used to go in to sleep and use drugs,” Mr Morgan said.
All four park constables lock the park in the evenings, checking bushes and shrubbery for people. Mr Morgan said the bushes where Mr Buchan was found had since been cut down.
The man’s sister, Mary McCabe said he was a ‘free spirit’ whom she hoped was now at peace.
His possessions included a rosary beads, a scapular and €65.
“He was a free spirit, he wouldn’t settle anywhere, he was always wandering around. He used to come to me every Christmas but we didn’t see him that year,” Ms McCabe told the court.
Gardaí and Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene and Mr Buchan was pronounced dead at 5.45pm. The doctor who pronounced his death noted that he had been dead for a number of hours before he was found.
A postmortem examination gave the cause of death as a drug overdose, with evidence of heroin and the sleep medication zopiclone found in his system.

candycock · 07-04-2021 3:07pm

SCOL wrote: »

A homeless man lay dead in Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green for a number of hours before he was discovered, an inquest heard.
Derek Buchan (39) originally from Drogheda, Co Louth had no permanent address but used homeless hostels in the city, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard.
He was found lying face down in foliage at the Leeson Street end of St Stephen’s Green on January 30th, 2016.
It was beginning to get dark as Park Constable David Morgan and his three colleagues were locking the park at 4.20pm, the court heard.
“I was locking the two small gates at the Leeson Street end of the park around when I saw a person lying in the bushes. I saw the figure of a man lying face down,” Mr Morgan said.
‘Free spirit’
He noted drug paraphernalia and attempted to rouse the man before calling emergency services, he said.
“It was an area where people used to go in to sleep and use drugs,” Mr Morgan said.
All four park constables lock the park in the evenings, checking bushes and shrubbery for people. Mr Morgan said the bushes where Mr Buchan was found had since been cut down.
The man’s sister, Mary McCabe said he was a ‘free spirit’ whom she hoped was now at peace.
His possessions included a rosary beads, a scapular and €65.
“He was a free spirit, he wouldn’t settle anywhere, he was always wandering around. He used to come to me every Christmas but we didn’t see him that year,” Ms McCabe told the court.
Gardaí and Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene and Mr Buchan was pronounced dead at 5.45pm. The doctor who pronounced his death noted that he had been dead for a number of hours before he was found.
A postmortem examination gave the cause of death as a drug overdose, with evidence of heroin and the sleep medication zopiclone found in his system.

Just seen this post and I'm curious to know of a young man that i use to see regularly around drogheda mostly on west street, i think he may of had mental health problems and alcoholic or substance use,this was around 2012-2013 i often wondered what became of him.

09-04-2021 6:22pm

I've a fella in mind but I don't really want to post a name. The guy I'm thinking of would have been maybe 30 at that time and would have been reasonably polite when asking for money but could turn nasty when under the influence. Around the time you mention he was becoming increasingly more volatile and was imprisoned that year. It's funny a family member only mentioned to me recently that she hadn't seen or heard of him in years eithers.

I'd have had friends that went to school with this guy and by all accounts he was a decent guy, and from a well respected family with a business in town. No idea what went wrong for him in life but I suppose with addiction it can get a hold of anyone.

Hopefully he's doing ok whatever became of him.

15-05-2021 2:18pm

Actually saw the man I mentioned in my last post on West St. the other morning. Still has his issues unfortunately.

candycock · 15-05-2021 4:16pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Actually saw the man I mentioned in my last post on West St. the other morning. Still has his issues unfortunately.

Really sad to see him suffering, ii hope one day here's peace I'm sure it's hard on his family.

18-05-2021 1:21am

Hard to believe I left Drogheda before many of the contributors to this thread were born.

Fusciardi's amusements on the corner of West St and Stockwell St.

Fellas trying to kick your head in at the White Horse, or just looking like they might. None of your West Court guff then.

The Cool Pool. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Coffee and a Gold Bond in Callan's. Hard to tell which tasted worse. :eek:

The Carlton. I think someone already mentioned the stainless steel bowls for the ice cream.

The Bull Ring and John St before the dual carriageway was built, but I was only a kid then.

Two Genoas. I had a slight preference for the one on James St.

There was a Wimpy on Laurence St, which had two way traffic in those days, but by the mid-70s it was gone.

I worked in both the Boyne Valley (pre Luciano's) and the Rosnaree. Come to think of it, I did a stint in the Village out in Bettystown as well. Feck, I used to walk all the way home after a shift - and not always sober.

Brendan was (I think) the name of the chap with the northern accent who used to sell the polio bingo cards. "Help the Poliooooo vicTIMS"

McCool the DJ.

Sitting on the steps of St. Peter's on Saturdays in the 70s.

School discos in assorted locations (Boyne Valley usually the best), and Ógras céilis in the O'Raghallaighs.

Nearly 40 years since I moved out. Jaysus, the years fly.

Pixell · 07-12-2023 7:46pm

Does anyone remember a computer game shop in the 90's in west street were you could buy C64 tapes along with other platforms which were in a glass cabinet? As far as I remember the entrance to the shop was like a small shopping mall with a key cutting place on the left I think and the computer shop was on the right and that door entrance was diagonal to the street.

Also it would be fun if anyone can find any photos of all the computer game shops mentioned here like Hardy Electrical, Live and Learn etc.

gipi · 07-12-2023 7:50pm

I don't remember the shop, but the description of the premises sounds like the shopping mall that was opposite the Moorland café.

blingrhino · 09-12-2023 12:06pm

Yep, Keymobile on the left on the way in. .west end arcade.

Growing up in Drogheda

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