Local Notes: Renovation brings new life to Ballyhaunis' Main Street
Members of Ballyhaunis Community Garden at the raising of the An Taisce Green Flag at the garden, located in the grounds of the Friary.
The renovation of a landmark 130-year-old building on Main Street as a short-let Airbnb will help draw visitors to Ballyhaunis, the project developers hope.
Built in 1886, the ‘Old Butcher’s’ building, which long housed Cribbin’s Butcher shop, had been vacant for 20 years before Tomas Muphy and his brother Eddie commenced an eight-month renovation project in 2023. The refurbished building is now ready for letting.
Tomas explained: “There were easier things to invest in, but we are born and bred on Main Street and we were worried that the street was going downhill really quickly over the past decade. So, it was a chance to do something about that.”
The brothers’ decision to go the Airbnb route was taken to promote and facilitate local tourism, said Tomas.
“In the morning we could rent it out, every day we get inquiries from people. But we believe there may be an opportunity for people who don’t traditionally live in the town who can come stay for weddings, funerals or for visit to the GAA Centre of Excellence. They could spend some money in the town.”
The building, whose ground floor had since its construction served as a butcher shop, required significant investment.
“It was harder than we thought, I had a fair idea what we were getting into but during it, I was scratching my head sometimes during the project,” explained Tomas.
The brothers did some of the work themselves, clearing the building out and then project managing the works. Local tradesman Mick Kilbane was also a major part of the renovation.
“Also, we were able to draw on good friends who are electricians and plumbers,” explained Tomas.
If the short-let plan doesn’t work out there’s always the option to rent the property, said Tomas. The Murphy brothers, meanwhile, are planning to turn the property adjacent to the Old Butcher’s - formerly Lyons hotel and bar - into three apartments, while retaining the commercial unit on the ground floor.
English woman Bernadette Howarth paid an emotional visit to Ballyhaunis recently in search of her family’s old homestead in Crossbeg on the Tooreen side of Ballyhaunis.
“My grandad Michael Healy was born on September 8th, 1895, and died in July 1975. He was born at Crossbeg and grew up on a farm there. He moved to the UK around 1920 to find work and settled in a small town in Lancashire called Ramsbottom. In the early 1970s, his first cousin Austin Healy joined him in England and lived locally with my grandad.”
Bernadette recently travelled from her home in Bury (also Lancashire) on the outskirts of Manchester to Ireland to find the spot where her grandfather was born and reared.
“I went to Crossbeg to try to find where the farm was although I appreciate it will have been sold and likely to have been demolished. I don’t know how to find the exact location of it although I feel that I was probably in the right area of where it was as I did speak to a few locals.
“It was a very long time ago and I understand that I may not make headway in my search. I just know that my grandad would want his descendants to see where he was from as his heart was always in Ballyhaunis.”
Bernadette can be contacted at bernadettehowarth@hotmail.com.
An all-weather training site in Brickens is one of the projects on the agenda for 2024 for Seamus Horan who has returned for another year as chairman of Eastern Gaels GAA club.
An astroturf pitch is one of the amenities planned in the Kelly’s Field project, an exciting planned joint venture between Brickens, Logboy and Tulrahan IRD (a local development group) as well as Eastern Gaels, the local Lohan Park housing and meals delivery service. Also involved is the committee behind the Tom’s Lane scenic walkway. A walkway, playground and housing are all included in the plans.
On the field, Seamus hopes the club, which plays at junior level, can build on its strong championship showing in 2023 which saw them reach a county semi-final. Eastern Gaels will have in its ranks Ethan Owens who recently became the club’s first player to start in a Sigerson Cup match.
The players are currently in training for the league which commences in April, explained Seamus. Eastern Gaels players use the gym at Ballyhaunis Rugby Club. It’s an innovative partnership.
“They had the building and then we had the funding and installed the gym equipment and it works out well because they’re usually off-season when we are in season,” explained Seamus, who himself played rugby for Ballyhaunis.
Eastern Gaels’ current draft of players is young, explained the chairman.
“Most of them are in the 20 to 23-year-old age range and more will be coming through in the next four to five years.”
A partnership with Ballyhaunis GAA at underage level, the St Jarlath’s Club, has proven successful and made Eastern Gaels players competitive.
“They are playing at a high level consistently and we see that then when they come into our senior team,” said Seamus. “They were cruising because they had been playing with St Jarlath’s.”
Getting a new all-weather training ground has been an ambition of the club as it grows – making Kelly’s Field a necessary and viable community project.
“We have been looking for something, the one pitch we have in Brickens is under a lot of pressure. It gets well used and we are struggling to keep it maintained. An astroturf pitch located close by would be ideal.”
Eastern Gaels also frequently use the pitches at the GAA Connacht Centre of Excellence, which is on its home turf, in Bekan. The club’s finances have been helped by the reopening of the Flanagan’s pub in Brickens, which has driven up subscriptions to the club lottery.
“This has been a big boost and the pub is busy," said Seamus.
The expenses of running a club continue to climb though.
“The costs go up every year," noted the chairman.
There was some surprise - and a lot of comment - in Ballyhaunis recently when a one-bedroom property was advertised for rent at a rate of €850 per month.
Local auctioneer Gerry Coffey said the price was not reflective of the overall market given that detached and semi-detached three and four-bedroom houses in the wider area are renting at €1,000 to €1,400 per month depending on the condition of the house.
Kevin Kirrane, at APP Kirrane Auctioneering on Main Street, acts as an agent for 180 rental properties across three counties. He said the market rate for a semi-detached home in Ballyhaunis is €1,000 per month, but added there is a lot of demand at the moment with his Ballyhaunis office having a list of 30 people seeking rental properties.
Some local homeowners offering rooms are charging €150 per week “but that’s your bills included,” said Kirrane. He and other realtors are not keen to see rents escalate to levels seen in 2006 “because the local wage is €450 per week so it’s not affordable”. Mr Kirrane sees a wider trend of property owners seeking to renovate and rent properties themselves through online adverts and outside the formal tenancy agreements of most landlords.
Gerry Coffey, who said his estate agency had a “very good” 2023, described the post-Christmas period as typically one of the busiest for inquiries regarding rental properties.
To address what he sees as a shortage of rental properties, Mr Coffey is calling for a government tax break for would-be landlords.
"Relief on rental income could be offered to someone who invests in a property and lets it.”
There is an “unbelievable appetite” for basket making in the wider Ballyhaunis area, according to Brickens-based master weaver Tom Delaney. Hence, he’s running a monthly class in Brickens Community Centre teaching people how to weave.
To meet demand, Tom has had to grow willow.
“I'm getting my willow from a mixture of three places at the minute. I grow my own on two acres, I forage from the roadside, and I buy off other basket makers as well.”
An archaeologist by training, Tom appeared on Virgin TV’s Ireland AM television show last year which prompted a surge in orders for his hand-crafted wares. Tom has created a market for his various baskets through the savvy use of social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
Several Ballyhaunis artists are featured in an exhibition opening at the Museum of Country Life on January 16th. The local Ballyhaunis artists, along with other members of the Rural Irish Artists, will be holding an exhibition entitled ‘Rural Country Life’ at the National Museum of Ireland Turlough House, Castlebar which opened on January 16th with a formal opening on January 21st at 3pm.
The first of a series of table quizzes to raise money for the preservation of the Friary church in Ballyhaunis was held on Thursday, January 18th, in Delaney’s Bar. Following surveys by Mayo County Council architects and engineers from staff, conservation works on the church are set to commence later this year to rehabilitate dampness causing damage to the walls and other features in the church.
A popular bicycle repair clinic returned on January 20th from 10am to 12.30pm at the Community Hall. A community volunteer initiative organised by Ballyhaunis Community Council and going for over a year now, the initiative has helped get numerous people back on the road. Some cycles will also be offered for sale at the next clinic, set for February. Sponsorship to cover venue hire for the clinic is being provided by the Ballyhaunis First Choice Credit Union and the Mayo Association in Dublin. Contact ballyhauniscommunitycouncil@gmail.com.
Congratulations to Aibhinn Herr, Devlis, winner of €530 in the Ballyhaunis GAA 50/50 draw on an envelope sold via direct debit.
