Ninety-year-old PJ (Patrick Joseph) of Hollow House, Ballypreacus, Bunclody and formerly of Rathmines in Dublin, died on Wednesday, September 3, surrounded by his family.
PJ was well-known all over Ireland for his business ventures which largely related to ballrooms. In Wexford, his name is synonymous with The Barrowland in New Ross and the Castle night club in Enniscorthy. In the 1970s he paid a small five figure sum of the Castle night club in Enniscorthy and back in 2005 there were rumours that he had an offer of €3.2 million for the key site.
The self-made man left school at 13 years of age but his lack of formal education didn’t hamper him as his business acumen was as sharp as a razor.
From a large family living on a small farm on the outskirts of Bunclody, he abandoned formal education in the early sixties to enjoy the delights of thinning beet in the fields around Tullow. He was paid six old pennies (just over 3 cent) per drill and some of the drills felt as though they were a mile long.
Pulling the grown beet from mucky land coated in frost or snow was more character forming than any Leaving Cert examination. He escaped from agriculture via the emigrant trail to England where he took an honours degree in the University of Life, business studies department, selling Electrolux vacuum cleaners door to door.
However, he returned to his native land to become a bit player in the ballrooms of romance that were springing up around Ireland. He found he had a talent for organising dances, so that was what he did, popping up at halls all over the country with his posters in the car boot and the trademark winning grin on his face.
From dealing with parish committees and sports clubs, he moved onwards and upwards to assume direct control of some of the venues in which the hugely popular showbands of the time were performing. By the time he chanced to see the advert for the Castle at the Warren Estates office in Enniscorthy, he already owned ballrooms in Courtown and New Ross – the first outposts of what briefly became a mighty empire.
The building for sale belonged to the local parish who had tried letting it out to a series of agents as a dance venue but without any marked success.
By the time PJ spotted the notice at Warren’s, they wanted shut of the place.
When the Bunclody impresario matched the asking price the next day, there was no haggling. The only other interest shown was by a local manufacturer who wanted to make cattle tags.
It took about ten weeks for him to clear the cost of his initial investment which was a phenomenal financial return.
The glory days of the showbands were numbered at this time but the final thrashings of a memorable era were very good indeed to PJ as he readily admitted at the time. Big Tom, The Freshmen, The Dixies and the king of hucklebuck himself, Brendan Boyer, were all regulars on the Castle stage.
Venues in Waterford and Clonmel were added to his portfolio. It was often six o’clock in the morning before he had collected all the takings and then three of his sisters worked until Wednesday to count up the weekend’s takings.
Most of the money was swiftly converted into Dublin property. At the height of it, one good night could generate enough to buy a house in the capital. He was lucky to have accountant Harry Compston to advise him, so that enough of the rich pickings went to keep the tax man happy.
PJ was one of the last men standing in the ballroom game. He ended up taking on the Reynolds chain from Jim Reynolds, brother of former Taoiseach Albert. His venues ran from Castleblaney to Courtown and beyond, almost everywhere except Cork and Kerry.
For a sideline, he ran dances at Jury’s and the Mansion House in Dublin. However, he was not in the game for the love of the hucklebuck. Classical violin pieces were his music of choice as he moved from hall to hall. He was suited to the trade because he was a night owl and because he was blessed with incurable business acumen.
The ballroom boom could not last and it did not last and property became his main venture.
In recent times Wexford County Council completed a Compulsory Purchase Order on the Castle and have plans to transform the area into a tourism hub while The Barrowland in New Ross is gone sale agreed but the plans for its redevelopment are still unknown.
Held in high regard by many who worked with him, Mr Doyle will be “deeply missed” by the staff at PN O’Gorman, who have had a connection with him since the late 1960s, according to business owner, Anne Carton.
“The connection with PJ and our business was established back in the later 1960s with himself and my late father and throughout the years he showed great support and kindness to our family,” said Anne.
“He was a brilliant businessman, he loved his sports car and he was dashing. He was charming and he was a great character, but he was so kind to people,” she continued.
“When my mother, who worked here, was sick 15 years ago, PJ arrived in one day with a box for her, which was full of probiotics. ‘It would be good for her’, he told me, and he was just one of those people, really genuinely kind.”
With the recent sale of Mr Doyle’s popular New Ross property, The Barrowland in July, followed by the news of his passing, Ms Carton said, “it’s totally the end of an era”.
“He thought in, what we call the ‘boom time’, roughly around 2004 or 2005, that he might sell The Barrowland, but he decided to keep it because, even though he had the Castle in Enniscorthy, he had huge sentimental attachment to New Ross.
“He was from Bunclody but he had a great vision and he always wanted the best for all his property.
“He was an absolute character and he will be missed,” Ms Carton concluded.
One mourner on RIP.ie wrote: “He was a true gentleman” while another wrote: “My memory of my only meeting with him was his stylish attire and hat.”
PJ was the son of the late Ned and Kitty and brother of Maura, Frances, Eamon, Brigid and the late Mick, Anne, John Joe and brothers-in-law Tysie, Noel and Jack.
PJ’s remains will be reposing at Hollow House on Friday, September 5, from 2pm to 8pm. His remains will be removed to the Church of St. Mary Magdelene, Kilmyshall on Saturday, September 6, at 12.30pm for funeral mass at 1pm.
Burial will take place afterwards in Calvary Cemetery, Bunclody. The house is private on Saturday morning.
Family flowers only. Donations if desired to Friends of Wexford Hospital (St Patrick’s Ward).