This article is from page 41 of the 2007-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 41 JPG
HE moved from Pakistan to Shan- non ten years ago, to study, and has grown to love the town so much that he has remained here.
Jimmy Arbab arrived in Shannon in 19977, to study at the Shannon Col- lege of Hotel Management. Now, a decade later, he has just decided to open his own business, Apache piz- za, in the SkyCourt shopping centre.
“T met my wife Karen O’Callaghan, from Shannon and am settled here
now,’ he explained.
“I love Shannon. It is quiet, away from the city, with lots of young peo- ple and no traffic. That is what has kept me in Shannon for so long,” he ene
Since finishing in college, Jimmy has worked in management in Breaf- fy House Hotel in Castlebar, along with the West County and Clare Inn Hotels, all of which are part of the Lynch Hotel group.
However, he always had a desire to open his own business.
“I always wanted to open my own food business. There is a lot of hard work in the hotel business, so I said I might as well do it for myself,” he Cr HOn
Over the past decade, Jimmy has made several friends in Shannon and he believes this will stand him in good stead with the new business. Two years ago he and his wife moved to Cree, but he still has strong con- nections with Shannon and believes his business will be a huge success.
“Nearly everybody knows us at this
stage,’ he said.
“IT did a lot of research and thought that there was a demand for pizza. There is no other pizzeria as such in Shannon,” he said.
Jimmy’s wife Karen operated a la- dies’ fitness company in Shannon for five years. She closed this when they moved to Cree, where she has set up her own fitness centre.