Closure of business premises in Offaly Street, Sylvesters, Kitty Websters, Kehoe's pub and Moore's

Treasured memories of the past were recalled as I drove down Offaly Street on the way to my office early last week. As I passed what in my young days was John W. Kehoe’s pub I saw across the entrance to Butler’s Row workers had started to remove the shop windows of Kitty Websters. Kitty’s was the local sweet and ice cream shop for the youngsters who, like myself, lived in Offaly Street over seventy years ago. It was the place where I can vividly remember spending my one penny pocket money in return for a toffee slab. Kitty with her sister Patty operated the shop, but it was called Kitty Websters, and it was Kitty who as we grew into our early teens was more than willing to break open a packet of Woodbine cigarettes to sell one cigarette to any of the local youngsters. I don’t know what age I was when I first ventured to smoke a cigarette in the People’s Park, far from the prying eyes of parents and other adults. We youngsters knew it simply as the Park, and it was there that the young fellows from Offaly Street spent many hours of the day, especially during school holiday periods. Smoking a cigarette was the sign of an independent minded youngster, aping the habits of an adult. So it was that Kitty’s was my Woodbine supplier until the day, I can still recall, when too much pulling on the noxious weed made me very sick. That was my last ever cigarette. Kitty Websters and Kitty herself were an important part of my youthful background. I can’t remember when Kitty’s closed but my own young children were still crossing the road from their grandmother’s house in Offaly Street in the late seventies to purchase sweets and other delights from Kitty’s. The removal of the windows to be replaced by small windows signalled the change from sweet shop to dwelling house or apartment status. It was as if history had moved in the same way, that many years previously when the communal oven in Kitty’s back yard available for local women to bake bread fell out of use. The once bustling public house owned by the G.A.A. stalworth, John W. Kehoe, just across the laneway from Kitty’s has been shuttered and closed for a number of years. Mona Sylvester’s shop next door to what was Moore’s grocery shop at the corner of the back square has also been converted for use as an apartment. Moore’s grocery shop, presided over by the brothers Michael and Eddie Moore, is now a travel agency. Moore’s honey, harvested by Michael Moore, was one of the many delightful items available in that corner shop. The present owners have had the plaster removed from the exterior walls to reveal the cut stone and window surrounds of brick. It presents a very attractive appearance displaying the workmanship of masons of an earlier age. It was at the one end of a street enlivened by young families who lived there, while the other end near to St. Michael’s Church of Ireland was the Savoy cinema managed by Bob Webster. That cinema in Offaly Street was once a hive of activity every night of the week. The once lively street awaits a regeneration but when it comes Kitty’s of fond memory will have passed into history. Writing of history I’m reminded of a number of queries which have been received during the past week. Can anyone help me to trace Patrick Moore who in 1977 lived in Geraldine when his mother Mary died. His father was Francis Moore who fought in World War I as a Dublin Fusilier and won a D.C.M. military honour, second only to the Victoria Cross. If you can help please contact me. Another query relates to the Miss Mylods who had a boarding house in the old Fever Hospital in the 1960s. Sisters Sarah and Bridget, I believe, came from Shercock, Co. Cavan. Can anyone give me any information as to their background and time in Athy. Athy Lions Club will be promoting a concert in St. Michael’s Parish Church on Sunday 22nd October featuring the Kildare Orchestra with Brian Hughes and John MacKenna in a musical work composed by Brian and scripted by John. Tickets at €25 each can be bought from any Lions Club member, Winkles shop and Eventbrite. Tickets can also be purchased in my office. All proceeds of the concert will go to the Lions Club local charities. It is a good cause and promises to be a great event which incidentally has been arranged as part of this year’s Shackleton Autumn School. The photo exhibition, Identifying the Past’, continues in Athy’s Art Centre in Woodstock Street from 2-5 each day but must finish on Friday, 13th October. It’s a unique exhibition of photos of Athy people taken in the town’s street taken over 70 years ago. Do visit the exhibition to see if you can identify the men, women and children who were part of the local community so many years ago. A final question – can anyone tell me where was Couse Hill, said in 1752 to have been about 1½ miles from Athy? Nearby was, I understand, a mill and the house of a John La Couse, a French Huguenot who fought on the side of King William at the battle of the Boyne.