From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Colleran’s Butchers shut its doors suddenly last weekend after 88 years in business – after a management buy-out deal fell through.

The manager who planned to take over and continue trading as Colleran’s believed he had reached an agreement with company shareholders last October.

But when one shareholder did not sign the deal, they were ordered to close the doors on the retail shop on Mainguard Street and its large wholesale premises in the Liosbán Industrial Estate. Its last day of trading was Saturday.

Manager Paul Hickey told the Galway City Tribune that the 14 staff were devastated that liquidators had ordered the closure.

“It’s the end of Colleran’s Butchers, but we are looking at potential premises in the city centre so it’s not the end of meat in Galway,” he insisted.

“I’d say it is one of the worst things to happen to me and all the lads. It’s very hard to contemplate that it’s over. There was such a great atmosphere, it was such a buzzy shop. It was very interactive, a very personal shopping experience.

“It’s something we hope to replicate in the near future. It’s not over, it’s a bump in the road.”

The wholesale side of the business had supplied up to 60 different companies, including the city’s top restaurants and hotels. That has also been shut indefinitely.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the March 10 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.

(Photo: Pat Cantwell, Galway Faces and Places)