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Snaubs in Newry are celebrating 45 successful years in business today, 9 December.
The Monaghan Street premises were opened by Pat and Blinnia McArdle on 9 December 1976 who spent the first couple of years 'living above the shop'. The Boutique opened first with a Coffee Shop following a month later.
As Blinnia explains "I was in the hotel business and Pat was an Accountant here in Newry and we bought the premises just before we got married and converted the flat upstairs and lived upstairs."
The Boutique part of the business opened 9 December 1976 with the Coffee Shop opening a little later just after Christmas as they had a lot of rennovations to do.
The business took off straight away. It was a time when you would have found it hard to find fresh homemade produce in the town. "We started with fresh soup and fresh everything and it just took off for us." explains Blinnia.
The new business quickly got so busy that Pat ended up leaving Accountancy to help out because Blinnia couldn't do it on her own.
It wasn't always plain sailing either with the troubles going on. The business suffered from a bombing in 1986 and it took 6 months for them to get back on their feet. Blinnia adds "There was a bomb left in the toilets upstairs and we were very lucky nobody was hurt through it. We were out of business for six months and it took an awful toll on us. All the girls were laid off, but we got back up and got going again."
Quite of few of the staff have been with the business many years with the longest serving staff member Irene Donaghy who has spent 43 years at Snaubs.
A Bright Future
Pat and Blinnia's son Pádhraic and his wife Milena are running the business now with Pádhraic in command of the Bistro, while Milena runs the Boutique. Milena sees a bright future for the business and is looking forward to 2022 and the challenge of adding more fashion brands into the business while keeping moving with the times. Blinnia adds "She is a great asset to the business"
Snaubs Bistro serves up the very best in locally produced food while the Boutique brings the latest designer brands from around the world to Newry. It is just one of our city's incredible home produced family run success stories and the future is most certainly bright!
£1000 Draw
Snaubs are doing a £1000 draw for the Grace Kelly Cancer Charity in memory of young Connall Magee who died in June. You can buy tickets at £5 each from the shop or via Paypal using email address snaubsboutiquecafe@hotmail.com
