There’s hardly a village or crossroads in the country that hasn’t seen a pub close its doors in the past 10 years. But is this level of decline inevitable, or can the purpose of the local pub be reimagined? The answer is a resounding yes, if you look at what has been achieved at the Thatch Cottage cafe in Kilmacow Co Kilkenny.
Brenda Hogan and Alison Phelan made their dream a reality when the pair of them bought their local pub and turned it into a thriving business serving food six days a week. On their journey they discovered they had more in common than wanting to start their own business.
Friends first
Both are married to local dairy farmers – Brenda to Pat Hogan and they have four children ranging in age from 18 to 11. Alison is married to Stephen Phelan and they have three daughters aged 12, 10 and eight. 
Even though they live only a few kilometres apart, they didn’t know each other and it was the friendship of their young daughters that drew them together at the school gate and set in train their joint venture.
They discovered they both had aunts who were nuns in the Bons in Cork and that they both harboured a secret dream of one day running their own business. The two of them were making strides in this direction as both were using their kitchens to bring in extra income. Brenda had a stall at the farmer’s market in Carrick-on-Suir, while Alison was making tarts for a local shop.
“I always wanted to open a cafe or restaurant. It was my thing. When I asked Alison if she’d consider a business, she said she’d like to open a children’s shop. That sort of scuppered my tea shop idea, for a while anyway,” says Brenda.
On a journey
While they got on really well together, it wasn’t just their personalities that were compatible. Brenda has a degree in hotel management under her belt while Alison is a qualified butcher. “Dad (Tom) had his own butchers shop in George’s Street, Waterford for over 50 years. Mam (Breda) worked with him and her claim to fame was winning an All-Ireland sausage making competition.”
Sadly Alison’s mother died when she was just nine and she grew up with three older brothers. “Dad reared us and he was just great. My brother and I worked in the business and we stepped in to manage it when dad was unwell.” As well as working in the family business, Alison worked with several meat processors including Dawn Meats.
Meanwhile Brenda was working as a tutor in hospitality and tourism at IT Waterford. But the recession reduced funding for the course and even though she was busy on the farm, Brenda never lost her dream of opening her own cosy cafe. And then it happened.
“After lots of chat we got past the children’s shop idea and settled on opening a café and that’s when the fun started. As soon as the children were in school we hit the road to visit cafés and restaurants all over the place. Those day trips were such fun, we felt like Thelma and Louise,” says Brenda.
Nearly there
In 2014 they were ready to sign a lease for a premises in Mooncoin but it fell through and they were gutted. “That was a disappointment, but we knew this place was on the market and we made an offer to buy which was accepted. We funded it with savings and a bank loan,” says Alison.
Turning the premises into a modern-day cafe took months of non-stop work. “We were here from 9am in the morning to close to midnight, for months on end. We sanded all the timber floors while our husbands took out the crow bars and hammers and dismantled all the partitions and fitted seating. They even made the table tops. Blood, sweat and tears was spent on this place, not money,” says Alison. “Most people thought we were off our heads setting up a business and the country still deep in recession. But it had taken us three years to get where we were and we knew what we were at. It was a matter of rolling up our sleeves and getting on with whatever had to be done,” says Brenda.
Queue outside the door
They opened for business on 27 May 2014 and the queue of customers was out the door. “It was unreal,” says Alison. “It continued that way all through the summer. To be honest, I don’t remember a thing about that first year. Both our husbands picked up the pieces and were a great support in every way.”
Their ambition has always been to present home cooked, fresh food made with locally sourced ingredients. “Our meat comes from Widgers in Waterford city, the fish is from Billy Bourke, while Dunphy’s supply our vegetables,” says Brenda.
Popular on the menu is the seafood crêpe where the fish is cooked in a cream and white wine sauce, added to the crêpe and served with mixed salad leaves and rustic chips. Finish with a piping hot seasonal fruit crumble with ice cream and you are done for the day.
Local support
They held on to the seven-day full license and that and the beer garden come in handy for all sorts of functions and group events. They have even hosted a wedding. They also keep full pub hours to 12.30am on Friday nights.
They reckon 80% of business is regular and local and they appreciate that people choose to spend their hard earned money in the Thatch Cottage cafe. Being located on the N25 and having a big carpark is a big boost to passing trade.
Given their initial idea was to have a tearoom employing just the two of them and perhaps one more, what’s happened at the Thatch Cottage Café is a stunning success. Today, they employ 18 full- and part-time staff. Brenda looks after front of house while Alison works in the kitchen with Helen, Bob and Tricia. “It would be impossible without all our staff,” says Alison.
Despite plenty of demand they remain closed on a Sunday. Family life is important. Sunday’s are for family dinners and hurling matches. It’s the same around Christmas when they close on Christmas Eve for nine days.
Open to change
As for the future, they are hoping to expand the outside catering side of the business. They already have contracts to deliver food to the hospital for pharma companies, to other pharma clients and the IDA centre. This accounts for between 5-8% of the business and the aim is to double it.
Brenda’s new long-term dream is to run a really nice guest house while having more family time will drive Alison’s plans for the future. Nor would she rule out a return to butchery. Both are open to change.
So what advice would they give anyone considering taking the plunge to re-imagine what a country pub could look like? “Be patient, try something new and most importantly of all, enjoy what you do.”
If you know of a sad-looking pub looking for a new lease of life you could do worse than take a trip to Kilmacow and see how it’s done. Contact 051-872 876.
There’s hardly a village or crossroads in the country that hasn’t seen a pub close its doors in the past 10 years. But is this level of decline inevitable, or can the purpose of the local pub be reimagined? The answer is a resounding yes, if you look at what has been achieved at the Thatch Cottage cafe in Kilmacow Co Kilkenny.
Brenda Hogan and Alison Phelan made their dream a reality when the pair of them bought their local pub and turned it into a thriving business serving food six days a week. On their journey they discovered they had more in common than wanting to start their own business.
Friends first
Both are married to local dairy farmers – Brenda to Pat Hogan and they have four children ranging in age from 18 to 11. Alison is married to Stephen Phelan and they have three daughters aged 12, 10 and eight.
Even though they live only a few kilometres apart, they didn’t know each other and it was the friendship of their young daughters that drew them together at the school gate and set in train their joint venture.
They discovered they both had aunts who were nuns in the Bons in Cork and that they both harboured a secret dream of one day running their own business. The two of them were making strides in this direction as both were using their kitchens to bring in extra income. Brenda had a stall at the farmer’s market in Carrick-on-Suir, while Alison was making tarts for a local shop.
“I always wanted to open a cafe or restaurant. It was my thing. When I asked Alison if she’d consider a business, she said she’d like to open a children’s shop. That sort of scuppered my tea shop idea, for a while anyway,” says Brenda.
On a journey
While they got on really well together, it wasn’t just their personalities that were compatible. Brenda has a degree in hotel management under her belt while Alison is a qualified butcher. “Dad (Tom) had his own butchers shop in George’s Street, Waterford for over 50 years. Mam (Breda) worked with him and her claim to fame was winning an All-Ireland sausage making competition.”
Sadly Alison’s mother died when she was just nine and she grew up with three older brothers. “Dad reared us and he was just great. My brother and I worked in the business and we stepped in to manage it when dad was unwell.” As well as working in the family business, Alison worked with several meat processors including Dawn Meats.
Meanwhile Brenda was working as a tutor in hospitality and tourism at IT Waterford. But the recession reduced funding for the course and even though she was busy on the farm, Brenda never lost her dream of opening her own cosy cafe. And then it happened.
“After lots of chat we got past the children’s shop idea and settled on opening a café and that’s when the fun started. As soon as the children were in school we hit the road to visit cafés and restaurants all over the place. Those day trips were such fun, we felt like Thelma and Louise,” says Brenda.
Nearly there
In 2014 they were ready to sign a lease for a premises in Mooncoin but it fell through and they were gutted. “That was a disappointment, but we knew this place was on the market and we made an offer to buy which was accepted. We funded it with savings and a bank loan,” says Alison.
Turning the premises into a modern-day cafe took months of non-stop work. “We were here from 9am in the morning to close to midnight, for months on end. We sanded all the timber floors while our husbands took out the crow bars and hammers and dismantled all the partitions and fitted seating. They even made the table tops. Blood, sweat and tears was spent on this place, not money,” says Alison. “Most people thought we were off our heads setting up a business and the country still deep in recession. But it had taken us three years to get where we were and we knew what we were at. It was a matter of rolling up our sleeves and getting on with whatever had to be done,” says Brenda.
Queue outside the door
They opened for business on 27 May 2014 and the queue of customers was out the door. “It was unreal,” says Alison. “It continued that way all through the summer. To be honest, I don’t remember a thing about that first year. Both our husbands picked up the pieces and were a great support in every way.”
Their ambition has always been to present home cooked, fresh food made with locally sourced ingredients. “Our meat comes from Widgers in Waterford city, the fish is from Billy Bourke, while Dunphy’s supply our vegetables,” says Brenda.
Popular on the menu is the seafood crêpe where the fish is cooked in a cream and white wine sauce, added to the crêpe and served with mixed salad leaves and rustic chips. Finish with a piping hot seasonal fruit crumble with ice cream and you are done for the day.
Local support
They held on to the seven-day full license and that and the beer garden come in handy for all sorts of functions and group events. They have even hosted a wedding. They also keep full pub hours to 12.30am on Friday nights.
They reckon 80% of business is regular and local and they appreciate that people choose to spend their hard earned money in the Thatch Cottage cafe. Being located on the N25 and having a big carpark is a big boost to passing trade.
Given their initial idea was to have a tearoom employing just the two of them and perhaps one more, what’s happened at the Thatch Cottage Café is a stunning success. Today, they employ 18 full- and part-time staff. Brenda looks after front of house while Alison works in the kitchen with Helen, Bob and Tricia. “It would be impossible without all our staff,” says Alison.
Despite plenty of demand they remain closed on a Sunday. Family life is important. Sunday’s are for family dinners and hurling matches. It’s the same around Christmas when they close on Christmas Eve for nine days.
Open to change
As for the future, they are hoping to expand the outside catering side of the business. They already have contracts to deliver food to the hospital for pharma companies, to other pharma clients and the IDA centre. This accounts for between 5-8% of the business and the aim is to double it.
Brenda’s new long-term dream is to run a really nice guest house while having more family time will drive Alison’s plans for the future. Nor would she rule out a return to butchery. Both are open to change.
So what advice would they give anyone considering taking the plunge to re-imagine what a country pub could look like? “Be patient, try something new and most importantly of all, enjoy what you do.”
If you know of a sad-looking pub looking for a new lease of life you could do worse than take a trip to Kilmacow and see how it’s done. Contact 051-872 876.
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