Nevin’s has proud 157-year tradition
FOR over 150 years there was been a public house at Tiernaur, halfway between Newport and Achill Island, writes Tom Gillespie.
Today, Nevin’s Newfield Inn is a thriving business, having the benefit of the Great Western Greenway at its back door and the Wild Atlantic Way to the front.
Proprietor John Nevin has invested heavily since taking over the running of the business, from his parents, in 2001. He opted out of a corporate position with Volex in Castlebar, a global supplier of cable assembly solutions, to continue the family business.
Established in 1863 by Dinny Sweeney as a pub and shop, John has transformed the premises, situated on the main N59 road between Newport and Mulranny, which his parents bought from the late Paddy Gibbons in 1971.
John told me: "My parents - Patrick, a native of Achill, and Mary, from Belmullet - had returned from Scotland. They bought the premises from the late Paddy Gibbons. At that time it was a bar and shop selling animal feed stuffs. After taking over they added on a few bedrooms and were doing B&B.
"There were nine of us in family and the business brought us up. In 1975 we built the lounge. I probably started working here when I was 13. I was behind the bar serving customers.
"When I did the Leaving Certificate I headed off on my travels but I always kept in touch. I was in Scotland for a couple of years and I got into the electronics business and eventually came back to Ireland. I got a job in Dublin as a technician but I was not happy in the job."
John added: "Managing people was more my forte and that was when I joined Volex in Castlebar as a supervisor and later as director of production. For a while I managed not only the production but personnel as well. I liked the personnel side of it but it was very challenging and stressful.
"When we got to a certain level we had to make a call that would I focus on production and bring in personal management, which we did.
"But I never got away from the personnel side as I knew the players. I was involved in every decision that was made.
"After we opened the new plant in Castlebar the millennium came in and everything was going full guns with production. We had stockpiles of stuff. We had got some great contracts with the big players. But every few years that assembly line would fall off and some other one would come along.
"The millennium was a big game changer when Eastern Europe came into play. Volex acquired different pants in Eastern Europe as they came along, which resulted in a different labour rate in Castlebar to Eastern Europe and very quickly the customers could see the difference and it exposed Castlebar.
"I realised this was going on and my parents were talking about retiring. I wanted to have a go at this place and if all failed I could go back into manufacturing again."
John bought the business in 2001 and took over on September 1, and left Volex in March 2002.
"It was a big move to make," he admitted, "being in a job with an international company and having a salary and a company car was a big change for me.
"When I started out there was just myself and my wife, Ann, and a part-timer. We had just the bar and the shop. We did the place up on a shoestring budget. I met up with a local engineer, who I knew going to school. He came back to me three weeks later and presented me with a plan that mapped out the footprint of what the premises is today."
John went immediately went for planning permission. He continued: "There was a new National Plan coming out in 2003. We had the planning permission got just before the National Roads Authority took over the main road here and put in a stipulation that no new development was allowed on the road, unless there was a speed limit.
"We were just in time. If we had sat on our laurels we would’ve lost out. But in the business I was in Volex we were always looking ahead. We never did the same thing one year after the other."
He admitted: "Banking was a big problem at the time in 2002. There was a kind of distaste for rural pubs. I got a bank to finance me for the whole package. Initially I did the kitchen and the rooms upstairs and then we built the function room, which can cater for 130. We wanted to pace ourselves.
"We are very lucky to have some great staff, a good chef, good bar staff. We built up a good team around me. We are all very focused on the customer. I brought that with me here and to this day it is the same thing. The customer is number one."
Last November Nevin’s won the Mayo Business Award and this year the Vintner’s Association Award for the best service in Connaught. The Sunday World’s Pub Spy visited Nevin’s on three occasions and each time they received the top five pints.
During the summer up to 50 people are employed at Nevin’s, dropping to 30 in the off-season.
In the future John hopes to add on further bedrooms to cater for larger walking groups using the greenway.
Nevin’s Newfield Inn is open seven days a week from 9 a.m., offering great quality home cooked and locally sourced food as well as a taxi service. It can be contacted on (098) 36959.
Do you have a story to tell about your business? If so, Tom Gillespie would be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch at (087) 9680780 or gillespietom49@gmail.com.