'I took over a pub, and turned it into a shop and coffee business'

TLC - Totally L Clothing - is a colourful boutique clothing shop and coffee bar that catches your eye as you head through the village of Carrignavar.

Under fresh ownership by Lorraine O’Neill and her family, the newly renovated building is painted light pink, yet subtle so that it blends into the village.

Though why wouldn’t it blend in? That same building has been a cornerstone in Carrignavar since the 1820s.

Built originally as an RIC barracks, it later operated as a boarding house, a pub and a resting spot for those travelling the county on horse and cart.

According to the Carrignavar Historical Society, it is uncertain as to when it became a family-owned pub. It was bought by the Sheahans somewhere in the 1800s, and in 1893, one of the Sheahan daughters married Michael Spillane from Whitechurch and it remained in the Spillane family for 132 years.

It was named The Local, and it served its last pints six years ago when Catherine and Derry Spillane decided to close. It remained idle until Lorraine purchased the property last year.

Today, the longish, two storey building serves bespoke clothing and Mahers Coffee, and doubles as a home for Lorraine and her family.

Its front door opened and closed busily with customers on the midweek afternoon I visited. There is life in the 200-year-old building once again.

“I always felt it was important that it stayed as a business, that it didn’t just disappear into apartments or be broken up into something that had no relationship with the village,” said Lorraine, who is originally from Glanmire, but now calls Carrignavar home.

She was already renting a premises for her business in Carrignavar and when The Local came up for sale, it felt like a good fit.

Evocative of an old sweet shop, a family-run pharmacy or indeed an old pub, the shop counter faces the front door while Lorraine has moved lock and stock and set up home right behind the counter.

It offers convenience, but it’s also a “nod to the older days,” Lorraine says, when people lived up over the businesses they ran. Something that’s become a rarity in recent years.

Her mother ran a drapery shop in Kilkenny city, so the idea maintains tradition.

“She always said it was a beautiful way to live. Downstairs for business, upstairs for home. It feels like things have come back around,” said Lorraine.

“When I walked in the door, I just knew, I felt a connection straight away.”

The building was untouched for decades, though she could sense its walls were storied, where people had gathered, music was played, and communities were formed.

“You could feel the energy, that people had lived their lives in here,” Lorraine says.

When it went up for sale, locals questioned what would become of the building. Would it become apartments? A takeaway? Would it be another building with its heart wrenched out?

“That was the big worry locally, people were afraid of that type of thing happening again,” said Lorraine.

The new renovation retained the original facade. To the passer-by, the structure looks the same as it always has. Inside, the family kitchen places itself exactly where the bar ran out towards the back area to the rear of the shop.

It is spacious and modern, but Lorraine wanted to integrate parts of the old pub within the renovation. Part of the kitchen dining table is a long-upholstered bench that once sat inside the bar. “It was stored for two years in a shed before being restored. People told me I was mad to keep it, but it’s authentic. It belonged here,” explained Lorraine.

The old bar counter has been retained and upcycled as a feature too - repurposed as part of the living space. Between the boutique shop and the coffee bar is the original lounge door and above the front window of the coffee bar, the original name remains: The Local.

“I wanted to keep that, because that’s what it was. And that’s what it still is, in a different way. The coffee bar carries the same name as homage to the building’s roots.

“My tagline is ‘buy to try, no pressure to buy’,” Lorraine says. “I want people to feel comfortable coming in, even if they’re just meeting someone for a coffee.”

This idea isn’t new for Lorraine. She ran a coffee shop called Cream in Glanmire for 15 years, closing it during covid. Community, she says, has always come first.

“If you look after a community, the community looks after you. There’s a lot of happiness attached to this building, people are glad it didn’t disappear.” She says.

Carrignavar, like so many other villages, has seen a fair share of business closures. It once had three pubs and now one remains.

Though the village is vibrant. It has a shop, pharmacy, pub, salon, a church, and the achievements of a local amateur drama group help to keep its name in circulation. The newly revamped former pub will be central to that.

Men can call in for coffee. Women sit and talk. Older people come in who might never have gone for a drink but are glad of somewhere to sit. “In rural areas, loneliness is real,” Lorraine says. “Not everyone wants a pub. But everyone needs somewhere.”

The Local, by way of boutique clothing and coffee, offers that again.