{"id":677540,"date":"2026-11-07T08:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/677540\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T08:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:54:10","slug":"dublin-shop-closes-after-57-years-it-got-a-makeover-in-1972-and-hasnt-been-touched-since-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/677540\/","title":{"rendered":"Dublin shop closes after 57 years: \u2018It got a makeover in 1972 and hasn\u2019t been touched since\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fergus O\u2019Brien says he has been \u201castonished by the reaction\u201d to the recent closure of his trophy, snooker and darts shop on Capel Street<\/a> in Dublin<\/a> after almost 60 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have people knocking on the door and telling me: \u2018Well done,\u2019\u201d says O\u2019Brien as he takes a break from packing up the remaining stock and personal artefacts in Brenfer Bullseye.<\/p>\n

Many of them relate to his son Fergal, the professional snooker player. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lovely card from a woman in Meath who said I\u2019d be a loss to the street,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Future tourists wandering that corner of the city will certainly miss out. The shop was something of a time capsule with its wall-to-wall glass-fronted wooden cabinets.<\/p>\n

The shop\u2019s name, Brenfer, comes from the partnership O\u2019Brien formed with Brendan Whelan when they opened it in 1969.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt got a makeover in 1972 and hasn\u2019t been touched since,\u201d he says with a laugh. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere would be a steady stream of visitors in to have a look. I\u2019d tell them it\u2019s like the Guinness hop store, except that was manufactured and this is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien started out in 1966, aged 19, carrying out repairs on watches for Whelan, who had a jewellery shop across the river on Clanbrassil Street.<\/p>\n

\"FergusFergus O\u2019Brien moved from jewellery into selling and engraving trophies. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cBetween then and 1969 when we opened here, I married the lovely, lovely Joan,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had two great children, Lisa and Fergal, and we have four lovely grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whelan emigrated to Australia with his family in 1986. Joan worked alongside O\u2019Brien for many years, while he describes his daughter Lisa as his \u201crock\u201d in the business during her time there. <\/p>\n

Though the business continued to do a good trade, some of it online, he says \u201cthere was always going to be a right time to close and this is that time\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere would have been 10 of us here at one stage, taking into account the sales staff and those involved in the watch and jewellery repairs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut like all of that, it changed like over the years. People now don\u2019t place the same sentimental value on a watch or something they got for their 21st birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0After 53 years on Talbot Street, Dublin city\u2019s last wallpaper shop prepares to closeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Selling and engraving trophies was a natural enough evolution from jewellery, he says.<\/p>\n

The snooker side of the business grew from his own interest in the sport, while the darts trade came from the closure of a neighbouring specialist shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter he closed, we\u2019d have people coming in and so we started dabbling in it and ended up with the biggest selection in Ireland,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It was always work, he says, but it kept him busy and enjoyed it. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien sounds philosophical about time moving on and the changes on a street that had two-way traffic and a very different mix of shops when Brenfer first opened its doors. <\/p>\n

\"FergusFergus O\u2019Brien (80) cycled from Howth Junction to his shop in Capel Street every working day. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Still, he is a little overcome with emotion as he contemplates finishing the clear out and moving on for good.<\/p>\n

He has other plans, he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still young,\u201d says the 80-year-old, \u201cand I like cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n

His bicycle is propped up against the wall across the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve cycled in from Howth Junction every day for 55 years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018End of an era\u2019: Dublin Castle cafe owner harbours no bad feelings over closureOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes down the seafront there would be a breeze that would stop a tank, but you would look up at the sun coming over Howth Head or across at the Dublin mountains and it would be gorgeous. And the thing was you\u2019d always arrive in fresh and alert.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019ll be doing that, and walking and gardening … and having holidays with Joan and the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut locking the door behind me for that last time,\u201d he says, before pausing and adding: \u201cThat\u2019s going to be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fergus O\u2019Brien says he has been \u201castonished by the reaction\u201d to the recent closure of his trophy, snooker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[142908,615,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-677540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-capel-street","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677540","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=677540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}