::: Newry Journal ::: - Murphy Bros Poulterers

If one could corner the market, the most profitable business in Newry would be that of ‘Shop Outfitters’, for there is never a day but that one observes the rubble skips filling up outside one or other retail business as some indomitable entrepreneur – like Bruce’s spider – makes yet another gallant effort to succeed in the retail trade.

In such a world of constant flux, it is consoling for the older members of the community that there remains, through the generations, a number of home-grown family businesses that have continued to provide a great quality service to the public without all that needless change.

Ranking high among these is the poultry business of Patrick Murphy in Abbey Yard. Today it is headed by the brothers Patrick and Jim Murphy and, like hundreds of Newry shoppers I would call in there a few times a week. I haven’t purchased my Christmas bird anywhere else either - since I returned to settle in my home town some thirty-three years ago!

Besides fresh and cooked poultry, one can purchase a great variety of frozen foodstuffs, all at very reasonable prices.

It has large, free-range eggs at £1.20 a dozen – half the price of other places, including the supermarkets. And it has curry paste like none other. These are just a few of my favourite purchases from Murphy brothers.

I love the large open-gate entrance, virtually unchanged since my youth. High on a wall hangs the old message-boy bike that Paddy (and others) cycled the town on for years, making deliveries to people’s homes. [This has already illustrated a number of stories here]. He estimates he covered a thousand miles on it but I doubt he’s thinking of its predecessors: this one looks far too fresh for that! But the Murphys always believed in doing it themselves. Those of us in the market for a job as message-delivery boy had to look elsewhere for employment.

I have heard older folk complement the original Patrick Murphy, who is said often to have given out eggs to the poor for free. The present proprietors – though not QUITE that generous – are two of the finest gentlemen in trade in our town to this day.