This article is from page 28 of the 2008-05-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
PATRICK Bourke Menswear was taking a trip down memory lane this week as it celebrated 80 years in business in Kilrush.
As proprietor Patrick Bourke dressed the manikins in clothes from the 1940s and 1970s for the celebrations, he with his aunt Mary Keatinge (nee Bourke) recalled the family’s long history of business in the west Clare capital.
Mary, whose parents Patrick and Johanna (nee O’Dea), opened the shop just days after they married in Summer 1928, has clear memories of early days in the clothes shop.
Her father who originally came from Miltown Malbay, added the letter “o” to the family name when the business opened, because there was a public house in the town also called Burke’s and the invoices were constantly getting confused.
“She was the business woman though. She minded the money and paid the bills,’ said Mary Keating of her mother whose family had a pub- lic house in the town.
Mary herself worked in the shop at lunchtime or when she was needed, but avoided the job as much as pos- sible.
She remembers fondly the people from the peninsula – especially those from Carrigaholt.
‘When the country people came in, they would come in from Carriga- holt on the bus at nine in the morning and we would have the cellar door off Francis Street open. They would come in and have the breakfast.”
“They were great customers back there. The day they came to town was as good as Christmas,” she said.
It was Mary’s brother, the late Michael, that took over the business and from him his son Patrick learnt the trade when he joined in the early 1970s.
Michael was assisted in the shop in the early years by his sister Marga- ret, who previously served as a nurse in World War II.
Today Patrick oversees the shop in Kilrush and the two in Ennis.
Looking back through old ledgers and receipts last week, Patrick found an old list of suit prices. It took three
days for a suit to be ordered, made in Dublin and collected in Kilrush in the 1950s.
During the rationing the clothes shop sold women’s items and any- thing else available reflecting the DU Oee MOTO (oto TLE
In later years the only clothes for women in the outfitters were habits to be laid out in.
As Patrick looked at the old price of habits, one of the photos fell from the ledger book. It was of the first of- ficial employee – Jose McGrath who worked with Patrick’s (Jnr) grandfa- ther.
The shop is full of memories and especially this week as manikins are dressed in clothes from every era.
As well as styles changing so too did the materials used to make the clothes and sizes.
Suits from the 1940s and 50s were made with the purchaser who was more concerned about practicality than style in mind.
“The material on this was almost bullet proof and the waist very high. There was no central heating so they had to be practical and clothes had
to keep them warm. The tempera- tures have since got warmer and the clothes lighter,” said Patrick pointing to an old suit.
The average size of men’s clothes has also changed. According to Patrick when he first started working in 1974 the average size waist in a confirmation suit was 27 inches. To- day the average is 29 to 30 inches.
‘For a man the average size waist in the seventies was 34 inches now it is 36 moving towards 38. The col- lar size in the 1970s was 15.5 inches now it is 16.5 inches,” he said.
The shop in Kilrush now spans three old buildings. The original shop, the old library purchased in the 1960s and a tearoom bought in by Michael Bourke in 1970s.
The business has also expanded into the county town of Ennis.
Today Patrick Bourke still knows his regular customers; a few were even served by his grandfather.