JB’s Corner a landmark in Castlebar

By Tom Gillespie

THE offices of The Connaught Telegraph are located at number one on Main Street in Castlebar.

In bygone days, the location, still known as JB’s Corner, was an important rendezvous point for all the young teenagers growing up in Castlebar in the 1960s.

They gathered there to spot the ‘talent’ coming up Castle Street from St. Joseph’s girls secondary school in The Lawn. At that time boarders resided at the convent there.

Likewise, it was a mid-town meeting place for lads and ladies from all parts of the town and surrounding townlands.

In those days there was very little entertainers in the era before television, so JB’s Corner was where all the latest gossip was shared, dates arranged and romances crushed.

Apart from the old post office at the top of Ellison Street, the large green post box, as seen on the left of the photo, was the main post box for business people on Main Street.

So popular was JB's Corner with teenagers that an iron bracket was, at one stage, placed across the window to prevent the youngsters gathered there sitting on the window sill.

There was a pecking order as to who could occupy the coveted window seats, with those in Leaving Certificate year having priority. Those in lower classes had to forfeit a ‘prized position’ if a Leaving Cert lad came along.

Local travel agent Fergus Kilkelly, a native of the street, told me some years ago that in the late 1950s there were 195 residents living on Main Street, a combination of Bridge Street and Market Street, where 160 full-time people were employed in 49 retail outlets, not counting the owners of the businesses. The businessmen and their families all lived over their premises and on both sides of the street large gardens extended to the town river on JB's side and to the convent on the other. Today there are just four remaining residential premises on the street.

Bridge Street, known as ‘the bottom of Main Street’, crosses the town river, the line dividing between the north and south of the town.

After the Binghams defeated both the De Burgos and the O’Connors, who held lands in the south and north of the river respectively, they built a bridge close to the castle in 1235 on the site of the military barracks.

The bridge would have been busy as the whole territory was bog or moorland and difficult to cross. Trading stalls would have sprung up around the bridge as it was the only crossing point near the castle and traders would have taken advantage of the increased amount of traffic at the toll station.

The street is probably home to the oldest houses in the town after the stalls morphed into shops and the buildings became permanent.

The bridge was the location where the British troops were routed by General Humbert and the French Army in the 1798 ‘Races of Castlebar’.

A look at the 1840s Housing Survey shows that the street was still a major commercial area with over 20 shops, almost 50 offices and numerous storehouses and animal holdings.

Meanwhile, Market Street, also known as ‘the top of Main Street’, is conjoined with Bridge Street and was the commercial centre of the town.

After the construction of the bridge and up until 1800 this was the only way of crossing the river. Market Street and Bridge Street combined became Main Street.

Trading in the town grew and traders flocked to the town to join the Bridge Street traders, extending the street westward. Shops opened along the street and markets were held here.

Many travel writers in the mid-1800s comment on the one Main Street of about 1km long.

The market was eventually moved to Market Square but its name continued as Market Street. Pigot’s Directory of 1824 lists almost 100 businesses on the street in that year.

But getting back to JB's Corner, the licensed premises was that of JB Moran’s pub run by Maggie and Mary Moran. They were some relation of the Flannellys and that was how the late Bridie Flannelly ended up with the building.

She had a hairdressing business there and actually retained the seven-day publican’s licence.

I recall writing a story for The Connaught Telegraph about how Bridie could serve an alcoholic drink to her customers.

Later, the ITGWU had their offices in the building where Michael Kilcoyne, now a member of Mayo County Council, was the union’s official located there.

The Irish Permanent Building Society and later Gentique Jewellers operated out of the building. It was later sold by public auction and was purchased by the late Cyril Flynn of Newtown.

It lay unoccupied for some years until The Connaught Telegraph, owned by the Celtic Media Group, moved in, in 2016.

The streetscape has changed dramatically since the 1960s. The tree-lined footpaths have been widened, electric and phone poles have been taken away and overhead lines have disappeared. Sadly, there are no longer 49 retail outlets on the street.

On a positive note, the green post box is still at the top of the street but has been moved, from its location in the photo, out on the footpath between The Connaught Telegraph and Paul Carthy’s drapery shop next door.