Sep 25 2012
End of an Era…
The other day I got a phone message to say that my sister Anne was very upset and would I give her a ring. So on the blower I get…‘What’s wrong with you?…’Oh Martin, did you hear the terrible news, Guiney’s is closing down. Where am I going to get me Net Curtains’? The bottom had just dropped out of her world. Michael Guiney’s have closed their doors for the last time and Clery’s in O’Connell is being sold off to America. My poor sister is devastated at the news. And I bet she’s not the only True Blue Dub’ who feels this way. The Ma’ used to always go into Guiney’s for her lace curtains, Roches Stores for a tea pot that whistled, Cassidy’s for her curtain material, Frawley’s for her tea towels, Moore Street for the veg and fish and the Pillar cafe for her cuppa tea before getting the 22 home to Cabra West. Some people don’t like change you know and especially when it comes too quick. Well in the heel of the hunt I met Anne in town the next day and brought her around for a bit of good old ‘Shopping Therapy’. For three hours I endured going from one shop to another with her as she slowly came to terms with the reality of modern day Dublin. Let’s face it lads, we men are not made for long-term shopping. So at the end of our day we sat in the Kylmore Cafe on the corner of O’Connell Street and North Earl Street and had a feed of good old fashioned fish and chips served up with a plate of bread and butter, all washed down with a cup of strong sweet tea. The sister is grand now, especially when she realised that Duffy’s in North earl Street still sell the nets…