'King of the Butchers' to bow out
He’s being cutting up prime quality poultry, beef, lamb and pork for the people of Nenagh for over half a century. But now Denis Quirke, known to many as ‘King of the Butchers’, is set to retire.
‘Denis’ Meats’ in Kenyon Street has become an institution with local meat lovers, but at 68 Denis told this newspaper it’s time to bow out from the business.
Sadly, as of now, he has found nobody who wants to take over his renowned butcher shop, which has served meat lovers from the town and surrounding areas for the past 48 years. That means that yet another local shop patronised by so many could be no more.
“I have planned to retire on the last Saturday in June,” says Denis, who started out working in shops in the town over half a century ago before opening his own buthcer’s shop. “I’m 55 years behind shop counters and I now want to enjoy a different life,” he commented.
Denis is now planning to spend his future doing things other than butchering. “For one, I’m a life member of Nenagh Golf Club and I have joined the local snooker club and I love gardening. I also love drama and I might get back on the stage with the Killoscully Players next winter,” he revealed.
Being an avid walker, he plans to spend time trekking through the scenic hills around his own home in Killoscully and spend more time with his three grandchildren who live close to him.
“I’m really thankful for all the business given to me by the people of the town and surrounding areas over the years,” he said.
Denis has become known as ‘King of the Butchers’ by his own staff members in the shop and several customers also call him by that title.
“I became known by that name after the late Jack Powell from Ballinaclough rang the shop two weekends in-a-row asking to speak to ‘The King of the Butchers’.
“It’s become a bit of craic with staff and customers over the last number of years, and now the title has stuck with me,” Denis laughed.
LONG CAREER
The man from the Parish of Silvermines can hardly believe that it’s 55 years since he first cut his teeth in the retail sector.
“I started out at the age of 13 as a part-time messenger boy in Joey O' Connor's old VG supermarket just across the road where Finnerty's Pharmacy is today,” Denis told The Guardian.
“I used to get lots of odd jobs to do, but I then ended up behind a counter selling fish, bacon and cooked meats.”
Though still in Nenagh Vocational School at that time, Denis decided to quit at 15 when he was shifted from the Kenyon Street supermarket to the butcher's section of a new superstore that the late Joey O' Connor had opened in Friar Street.
“The Head Butcher there was Paddy O' Connor from Newport who got to like me and asked me if |I would work in his section on a full-time basis. I went home that evening and told my father I was going to leave school for good and train as a butcher,” Denis recalls.
Ultimately Denis, at just 20 years of age, opened his own butcher shop on November 24 1977 - in a partnership with Tempelderry man John Fogarty - in a shop unit adjoining the FBD office in Kenyon Street. The duo ran that establishment together for eleven years. Denis subsequently became as a sole trader, opening up his new store at the current location in Kenyon Street on November 24 1988.
“There were some really tough years and times when you would struggle to create a wage. I thought I wasn't going to survive, but luckily, and thanks to the Man Above, I did,” said Denis, who will no doubt be missed on the street after so many years.