In Reply to: CASTLEBAR CHRISTMAS posted by Brķan Hoban on December 08, 2010 at 11:35:02:

a cara.......i remember your fathers shop window very well......along with peter devers....these windows were a joy to look at....hobans was a high class grocers and provision establishment....and i remember the pre xmas windows of dried fruit and peel and as you stated the actual christmas window was a masterpiece of cakes....chocolates biscuits and liquers.......how i remember the cans of kimberley...mikado....coconut cremes....christy hobans had a trade name that resonated wide and far.....at christmas he used alot of white cotton wool with holly and red trim...which gave the window an added festive delight.....i can still see the red frontage of the store.... .i remember martin quinn when he was lead hand .....and michael ?...he was a lad from the area who worked a number of years at your fathers store....he later went to london and managed grocery stores in london....and later tesco super stores.....i knew him well ......and met him in london......my cousin pter murray worked at your store also......and on my lost weekend your father invited me in to the store to merchandise ......i had vast experience in the field.....and he heard about it....i met him in pat lavelles one day and he enquired as to my knowledge.....regarding phil hobas ......on linenhall st.......phils christmas window was not unlike hamleys of london....he had the most magnificent displays...and selections of toys in the town.....and his baritone voice ...did not get lost either.......the days of family stores is diminishing....and the dunnes....and tescos.....can never be compared to the resonnance of once upon a good time......
......tog go bog e......