{"id":616811,"date":"2026-09-07T02:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T02:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616811\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T02:30:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T02:30:24","slug":"iconic-capel-street-shop-to-shut-its-doors-after-almost-60-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616811\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic Capel Street shop to shut its doors after almost 60 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_9772\"
\n Fergus O’Brien – the ‘fer’ in ‘Brenfer’s’ – pictured in his Capel Street shop as he prepares to finish business. Emma Hickey \/ The Journal<\/p>\n

Emma Hickey \/ The Journal \/ The Journal\n<\/p>\n

AFTER CLOSE TO 60 years in business, Brenfer Bullseye on Dublin\u2019s Capel Street will close its doors at the end of the month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its owner Fergus O\u2019Brien established the shop in 1969 with his former business partner. Now, at the age of 80, he says he\u2019s ready for a change.<\/p>\n

Brenfer\u2019s is nestled on Capel Street, a northside thoroughfare that was pedestrianised in 2022. While it\u2019s in the city centre, the street is slightly off the beaten track. Small independent businesses take up space in most of the premises.<\/p>\n

Brenfer\u2019s previously specialised in jewellery, and repaired jewellery and watches, but \u201ceverything just evolved\u201d and eventually it left this part of the business behind, O\u2019Brien explains. The shop went on to become the purveyor of darts, snooker and trophies, which it has been selling for around 30 years.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien\u2019s son is former professional snooker player Fergal O\u2019Brien, while his daughter is a florist for the five-star Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen\u2019s Green.<\/p>\n

Fergal retired in 2024 after a career spanning more than 30 years and now coaches. There are pictures of him tacked around the shop.<\/p>\n

\"fergal-obrien-world-snooker-championship-the-crucible-sheffield-england-21-april-2010\"
\n Fergal O’Brien pictured competing in the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, England, in 2010. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

Brenfer\u2019s owner is happy enough to allow his shop close up, explaining that his children are in successful careers and aren\u2019t in a position to take over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s looking forward to spending more time with his wife Joan, as well as continuing to pursue his hobbies: cycling, gardening, walking, holidaying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s been a long run. He owns the building his business operates out of and easily could have shuttered the doors sooner. \u201cWhen I was 60, I\u2019d say 65. When I was 65, I said I\u2019d see when I\u2019m 70. When I was 70, I said 75 \u2013 and when I was 75 I said I\u2019d keep it under review.\u201d<\/p>\n

He decided about a year ago that it was time he concluded this review and he is now conducting a sale to clear his remaining stock before closure.<\/p>\n

The shop has seen Dublin, and Capel Street, change drastically over the years. Jewellery choices have come in and out of fashion, other businesses have begun and shut down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien says in his near-60 years at Brenfer\u2019s, he has seen between 80 and 90% of the street\u2019s businesses vanish. Now, Brenfer\u2019s will be one of them \u2013 but although he is sure locking the doors for the final time will be \u201cvery difficult\u201d, it\u2019s the right time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m quitting: while I\u2019m still young,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Brenfer\u2019s came about in 1969 from O\u2019Brien and his friend and business partner Brendan Whelan. It got its name from the two amalgamating the first syllable of their Christian names.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore people get the name wrong than anything,\u201d O\u2019Brien tells\u00a0The Journal in the shop in the late morning. \u201cBreffany, Brennifer\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9779\"
\n A sale is ongoing to shift the remaining stock before the planned closure date of 30 September. Emma Hickey \/ The Journal<\/p>\n

Emma Hickey \/ The Journal \/ The Journal\n<\/p>\n

In 1986, Whelan departed Ireland with his family for bright-skied Australia, leaving O\u2019Brien manning the fort for the next 40 years. Members of the Whelan family still stop in to visit the shop while passing through Ireland back to Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few months ago, one of Whelan\u2019s granddaughters stopped by Brenfer\u2019s while stopping in Ireland on the way back from a trip to the US and told O\u2019Brien that her grandfather started the shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018I know he did, along with me\u2019,\u201d O\u2019Brien laughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was quite emotional. She was coming back to something, because she would\u2019ve heard the stories from her grandad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the shop is as much a hobby for O\u2019Brien as it is a livelihood, at the age of 80 he\u2019s ready for a change.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife doesn\u2019t allow me to use the word retirement, she said it\u2019s just a change,\u201d he says\u00a0over boxed dart boards in the shop, which he runs solo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien and his wife Joan married in 1968 when he was 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of this would\u2019ve been successful without my wife,\u201d he says of the shop.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9773\"
\n Photographs of Fergus’s son Fergal O’Brien, who has recently retired from playing snooker professionally. Emma Hickey \/ The Journal<\/p>\n

Emma Hickey \/ The Journal \/ The Journal\n<\/p>\n

The snooker direction of the shop makes sense given his son\u2019s success, but O\u2019Brien never played darts \u2013 \u201ccouldn\u2019t hit the board\u201d \u2013 although he noted he \u201cwouldn\u2019t need to be an alcoholic to sell a drink\u201d.<\/p>\n

As we speak in the Capel Street premises, a regular enters looking for darts grip wax.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll grab two of them off you please,\u201d the customer says.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien replies: \u201cA wise man. You won\u2019t be able to get them after September!\u201d<\/p>\n

I ask the customer if he came to Brenfer\u2019s often.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a few bits, yeah,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s handy because everything else is usually online. There\u2019s nowhere that sells darts stuff around, believe it or not.\u201d He libels a few locations in the vicinity. Will he miss Brenfer\u2019s when it\u2019s gone? \u201cYeah, 100%,\u201d he says, and exits with his grip wax.<\/p>\n

As the door shuts behind him, O\u2019Brien notes: \u201cHe got something that he wasn\u2019t going to get any place outside. We have people that come from all over the country to us. There\u2019s no other shop like this in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

I say it\u2019ll be a big loss.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien laughs, \u201cyeah, so people say\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fergus O’Brien – the ‘fer’ in ‘Brenfer’s’ – pictured in his Capel Street shop as he prepares to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61068,142908,23958,615,147754,261781,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-616811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-business-closure","tag-capel-street","tag-darts","tag-dublin","tag-end-of-an-era","tag-fergus-o","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}