'People don't talk about the mental health around a cancer diagnosis'

Marie Mellett is the seventh generation of her family to run Mellett’s Emporium in Swinford. The business is literally in her blood. Marie is not just invested in improving and developing her family business, but is also keen to help boost the local economy.

As chairperson of the Mayo branch of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, Marie is hearing about the challenges that publicans in rural Ireland are facing every day. But she loves the business.

Her love for Swinford and its people is evident – she felt their support during her battle with breast cancer in recent years and that’s something she wants other people facing similar challenges to feel as well.

We sit down to chat in Mellett’s as Marie tells me a little more about her journey.

Angelina: Marie, thanks for talking to me. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Marie: I was born in Swinford and went to primary and secondary school in Swinford, and then University in Galway to do an Arts degree. I did a post-grad in Event Management and PR in Dublin. I enjoyed my time studying in Galway and Dublin. 

I worked in the pub throughout my teenage years with my brother and sister. It's a family business and that's what you do, even though I never imagined myself working in it full time. 

After college, I went travelling in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and it was when I was in Australia I felt a draw to come back home. I missed my parents and funnily enough, I missed the pub a lot. I made the decision to come home again in May 2011. I came home and I started work on Dad's 60th birthday, May 13th, 2011, and I've been here ever since.

Angelina: What do you think was the reason you felt compelled to come home to the family business?

Marie: I suppose there's maybe a certain responsibility that you feel towards the family business. It was important to me and to my brother and sister that the business was carried on, but luckily we were never forced by our parents to take over the pub, and if none of us had had any interest in it, it would have just moved on to another family. But I think that my Dad was grateful that I was willing to take it over, and my brother and sister are happy that I'm here and keeping the doors open. We are here 227 years, and I'm the first female Mellett publican, and so I hold that honour in high regard.

Angelina: You took over the licence in 2021 – there have been huge challenges for pubs during and after Covid-19.

Marie: Every business, not just pubs, are facing huge challenges now, and since Covid, they seem to have really been exacerbated between different government policies and supplier price increases. It's really difficult for anybody to be in business, not only publicans.

The pub trade was going very well in 2019, and Christmas was probably the best we ever had, and I think a lot of businesses would say the same. Then all of a sudden, in March 2020, everything came to a halt. At the beginning,  it was great; we did a few jobs around the place. But it went on and on for about 16 months, so that was very, very tricky.

Angelina: You are chairperson of the Vintners' Federation in Mayo since 2021 as well?

Marie: It's interesting, and I enjoy it - I enjoy everything to do with pubs, not just my own pub. I feel like the pub is the centre of so many different communities, and I'd encourage people to go out and support their local pub. It doesn't have to be my pub, it can be any pub. I enjoy being a voice for publicans. We're open seven days a week, about 95 hours a week. I know the ins and outs of pubs. I've been brought up in it, and I would like to think that I'm a good spokesperson for all the pubs in Mayo.

Angelina: You faced a huge health battle around that time too?

Marie: Shortly after I became the chair of Mayo VFI, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That made me realise that I can't do everything myself, that you need help and you need support. 

While it was a dreadful time, I actually got to spend more time with my family than I ever had. My mother was in my house every single day. She delivered fresh orange juice to my house every morning. I had an absolute army of support behind me, and it was actually only while I was going through treatment that I realised what an amazing town we have. The support that I had from everyone in the town was incredible. 

I've spoken to a few ladies who went through it, and they would all agree that you need that support. My heart goes out to anybody who would think that they need to go through a cancer diagnosis on their own. I'd love for anyone in that situation to know that I'm there if they ever want to talk about it. Because it's a dreadful time, it's a worrying time, and it changes your life forever. 

I'd love to say that it changed my life for the better, that I have a fantastic outlook on life, but actually what it gives you is a crippling anxiety. The fear of recurrence.

Angelina: How are you now, Marie?

Marie: I'm good. But the anxiety got so bad that I hit rock bottom last summer, almost 12 months ago. I'm on antidepressants and the day that I was diagnosed with depression, I was devastated. I thought, that's not me - I'm 38 years of age, that's for other people. 

But since I started taking them, they have changed my life completely and I'm a different person. I don't have this awful anxiety that I was living with. 

Not enough people talk about the mental health around a cancer diagnosis, and it's a really important thing. I do think that there just needs to be more talk and more awareness around the mental health aspect. I suppose we all just need to be more kind to each other and make the world a better place.

Angelina: What does a typical day look like for you, Marie?

Marie: I do the cleaning here, so my day starts at about 6am, maybe 5.30am if there’s a lot to do. I might be working the full day shift, or I might have a member of staff to do the full day. If I'm not behind the bar, I'm doing paperwork, social media, all those things. It's an endless list of stuff. 

When you're self-employed in a small business, you're the accountant, the marketing company, you're everything. I try to get on top of that as much as I can, and I have to say, we have a brilliant team of staff here, so they're a huge support to me.

Angelina: What keeps you driven, Marie?

Marie: I think it must be that I get huge satisfaction from my job. I get huge satisfaction out of customers being happy and keeping our doors open, and the fact that we're here 227 years, it's my intention to keep growing the business. 

I keep an eye on our clientele and what they want. We might have to expand further into more music. I hope we never have to go down the route of food, but if we do, we'll take on that challenge as well. Every day is a new challenge and a new experience, and you're always looking to the future, and how can I improve the business?

Angelina: What do you put the longevity down to - 227 years is a long time?

Marie: A sense of pride, I think. When I think about my Grandad, I was seven when he passed away, so I don't really remember much of him, but I think of him very often. I have a photo of him behind the bar and he's looking at me every day and I look at him and I feel driven to keep the doors open.

Angelina: Do you think we will see changes in the way pubs operate in rural Ireland in the coming years?

Marie: I think we will. Transport is a huge issue. While I don't condone drink driving in any way, transport is a huge issue for people. A lot of smaller pubs in very rural areas are really, really struggling. If the taxi situation could be resolved, to make it easier for people to become part-time taxi drivers, it might bring a new lease of life into a few rural pubs. 

It's is a difficult time, but we've been through difficult times and you just have to keep going, and keep an eye on different trends and what people want. It probably means that it's going to be more event driven, to give people more of a reason to come to the pub. We've noticed in recent times that the non-alcoholic offering is huge. The amount of people who come in specifically for the non-alcoholic range that we have is huge, so that's something that we would have never discussed 10 years ago, but that's just another element to it now.

Angelina: What advice would you give to someone considering this business route?

Marie: Have a good think about us. How much do you like your Saturday nights out? Because if you like your Saturday nights out, don't become a publican. I would say to anybody considering it, there is huge job satisfaction in it. It's brilliant, but you need a good team of staff behind you. You need support. You cannot do it all by yourself. Sometimes I need to learn to delegate more.

Angelina: What are your hopes for Mellett’s over the coming years?

Marie: My hopes are to keep developing it. I have loads of empty space above the pub. My intention will be to turn that into short-term accommodation to bring more people into Swinford town centre and let them come in and eat in different coffee shops and restaurants, let them spend money in the supermarkets and keep the economy within the town centre. That's my goal in the next few years.