{"id":81093,"date":"2025-10-15T01:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T01:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/81093\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T01:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T01:08:09","slug":"limerick-man-flies-to-role-as-mayor-of-london-borough-on-the-doorstep-of-heathrow-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/81093\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick man flies to role as mayor of London borough on the doorstep of Heathrow Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A LIMERICK man has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/section\/1089\/limerick-elections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">elected<\/a> the first citizen of one of London\u2019s 32 boroughs.<\/p>\n<p>John Doran, who hails from Thomondgate, secured the chain of office to become mayor of the London Borough of Spelthorne.<\/p>\n<p>Based in outer London, to the west of the city, the area covers a number of areas on the doorstep of Heathrow Airport.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/news\/planning\/1918131\/decision-made-on-planned-tower-block-of-apartments-in-limerick.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Decision made on planned tower block of apartments in Limerick<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mayor Doran lives in Stanwell, a village which is set to be hugely impacted by the addition of a third runway to London\u2019s main airport.<\/p>\n<p>Born and raised in Thomondgate, on the city\u2019s northside, he turned out for Thomond rugby club at junior level for two years, before leaving Limerick at the age of 20.<\/p>\n<p>He took a job with the Royal Air Force, before moving to work in the freight department of Heathrow Airport.<\/p>\n<p>A Limerick man at heart, the mayor declared: \u201cI\u2019m definitely a soda cake!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was a relatively late starter in politics, being elected as a Labour councillor into Stanwell Borough Council in 2019, at the age of 79, and was re-elected four years on.<\/p>\n<p>He joined his wife Susan, a past Mayor of Spelthorne, in the chamber.<\/p>\n<p>Asked how it felt to be elected mayor, he said: \u201cGreat! I am the first Irish man, and the first Limerick man to have the role as far as I am aware!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He admits that his recent visits home to Limerick have mainly been for \u201cweddings and funerals\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore funerals than weddings sadly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The eldest of six children, only two of his five siblings remain, one being his brother Stephen, an accountant based in O\u2019Connell Street.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Doran recalls growing up in Clancy\u2019s Strand, between the Curragower Pub, St Munchin\u2019s Church and the Treaty Stone.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike here in Limerick, where there is a directly elected mayor in place, Mayor Doran will serve just a one-year term, which will expire in May next year.<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A LIMERICK man has been elected the first citizen of one of London\u2019s 32 boroughs. John Doran, who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,8210,61,60,1396,99,47264],"class_list":{"0":"post-81093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-heathrow-airport","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-limerick","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-thomondgate"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81093","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=81093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}