The buzz of the banter, the clattering of the knives, that unique smell of fish fused with fresh veg and spiced beef – the English Market is a great many things to many people, but to Pat O’Connell, it’s home.
“Hiya girl,” he calls to me in Farmgate restaurant, greeting me like a long-lost friend who has made their way home.
What Pat doesn’t know is that I kind of am. When I was a child, I would dread O’Connell’s fishmongers.
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh
My Nana, a lifelong customer, was bound to spend a good 15 minutes chatting to Kathleen, Pat’s mother and the woman who set up O’Connell’s fishmongers.
She was one of many though and her loyal following stayed with her sons Pat and Paul 20 years after her death.
A force to be reckoned with
“My mother was an amazing woman, a fantastic lady, a force to be reckoned with,” says Pat.
She knew the customer was always right long before the phrase was invented and she was always so interested in people’s lives, their families – she developed a real rapport with them.
When Kathleen first opened her stall in 1962, she was ahead of her time. Women worked on the stalls, they certainly didn’t take the bold decision to run one.
“Some of my earliest memories are of being at fish markets early morning down at the Coal Quay.
"I was probably five and I remember always being late for school because I’d be helping her wheel the fish over to the market.”
Trips to Castletownbere
Competition was tough, with 14 stalls in the market at that time and even more outside on Prince’s Street.
“Mam was always pushing the boundaries and so a few years later when fish was scarce and the competition was tough, she got my Dad to get a trailer and we would go down to Castletownbere to get the fish straight off the boat.
"She might be up at 6am, work a full day, drive to Castletownbere, some nights getting back at midnight, before getting up and doing it all again.
"But you know, she never saw it as work, she loved it and it was just what she did.”
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh Even though Pat grew up with the business, he went to study in CIT and worked in city hall when he was 20. However, three years later he was back in the market working with his mother and brother.
“The truth is, I missed the market – the buzz, the people, the competition – it gets under your skin.”
The end of an era
However, the business was never to be the same again when in 2008 Kathleen passed away. “She never told us she was sick,” says Pat.
“We found out she had cancer on a Thursday and she passed the following Friday.
"She worked on the stall right up until a few weeks beforehand. She was 63 when she died. Very young, very young.” His voice is so quiet reflecting on that time that I can barely catch the words. “We got on with life, or so I thought. About three months after she passed, I was walking in the Prince’s Street entrance on a cold winter morning and it hit me like a tonne of bricks.”
Standing out from the crowd
It wasn’t just Pat and Paul who missed their mother, it was the whole market. “We were really at the forefront now,” says Pat.
“It was challenging, my mother was a huge personality. That doesn’t come to me naturally, I would be shyer, more like my dad in that regard.
"But we had the best example of a business person and we had to think, what would she do? We had to get out there, stand out from the crowd, not just in personality but with our fish.
"My mother used to always have the staples. You needed the mackerel and the herring but she realised there was also a market for more upmarket fish such as black sole, turbot, brill and prawns.
"We have constantly had to make sure we are meeting all our customers’ needs.”
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh In the 20 years since Pat and Paul took over the business, they have carved out their roles and now his daughter Emma and nephew Sean are also involved in the business.
“How do Paul and I get on? Nightmare,” laughs Pat. “Ah no, we are very different but we work together well.
"Paul is the man who is filleting the fish and doing the dragging and hauling. He would drive to Donegal if he thought there was fish there, not a bother on him.
"I am much more involved with the business end of things, with the Cork Business Association and the market traders.
"That wouldn’t be his cup of tea at all but he knows it gets us out there and it helps us build links and I couldn’t do all that without him behind me.”
Young Offenders
These links certainly helped get Pat get there on his most recent TV appearances on The Young Offenders.
“What a laugh we have had on that show. A group of Cork guys approached us saying they wanted to do a film about Cork and were willing to put their money where their mouth was.
Look, they have their finger on the pulse, they knew if you were filming in Cork, you had to have the market in it, so why wouldn’t you want to help them out.
Despite being on the big and small screen with the most recent series on RTÉ, Pat said the most exciting moment was the series launch.
“There were 1,000 people packed into the market and I looked around and said, this is it, the next generation.
"For some, it’s their first introduction to the market, their first memory, and it’s going to last forever.”
Royal laugh
The night got many laughs but probably the most famous laugh of the English Market was the Queen’s laugh.
Pat’s joke, a moment caught in time that produced a laugh so big, it radiated far beyond the market gates.
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh “Ah what a day that was. Before the Queen arrived, we did a practice run but it was fierce stiff and formal.
I just thought, if she is here to see the market, we should show her it as it really is. If we are proud enough to be here and be Irish, we should be proud enough of what we do.
“So she came to the stall and I greeted her, and I started to take her through the different fish and then we came to the monkfish.
"That’s when I said: ‘And here your Majesty, we have the monkfish but around here we call it the mother-in-law.’
"Now it could have really backfired on me but when she started laughing, I said, right, this lady has got a sense of humour.
"So we started chatting again and I said to her: ‘I have to admit, I’m a little bit nervous, I haven’t been this nervous since this day 30 years ago, it’s my wedding anniversary.’
"She asked: ‘Are you okay now?’ And when I replied ‘kinda’, I got an even bigger laugh. That was the moment, the laugh that was captured on camera.”
Pat said after that moment he received letters from across the world expressing how proud people were to be Irish, to be from Cork, how proud they were of the market.
The moment is only tainted by one person missing on the day.
“I always joke that my mother couldn’t have been there, we couldn’t have had two queens. But she was there in spirit and she would have been immensely proud to say the queen of England had visited K O’Connell’s fishmonger, the stall she built from scratch.”
Indeed, Kathleen could only be proud of what has been achieved in the 20 years since she is gone but no doubt her name is stronger than ever.
Read more
It's all for the love of Butchery at James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel
20 years of the Tannery
The buzz of the banter, the clattering of the knives, that unique smell of fish fused with fresh veg and spiced beef – the English Market is a great many things to many people, but to Pat O’Connell, it’s home.
“Hiya girl,” he calls to me in Farmgate restaurant, greeting me like a long-lost friend who has made their way home.
What Pat doesn’t know is that I kind of am. When I was a child, I would dread O’Connell’s fishmongers.
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh
My Nana, a lifelong customer, was bound to spend a good 15 minutes chatting to Kathleen, Pat’s mother and the woman who set up O’Connell’s fishmongers.
She was one of many though and her loyal following stayed with her sons Pat and Paul 20 years after her death.
A force to be reckoned with
“My mother was an amazing woman, a fantastic lady, a force to be reckoned with,” says Pat.
She knew the customer was always right long before the phrase was invented and she was always so interested in people’s lives, their families – she developed a real rapport with them.
When Kathleen first opened her stall in 1962, she was ahead of her time. Women worked on the stalls, they certainly didn’t take the bold decision to run one.
“Some of my earliest memories are of being at fish markets early morning down at the Coal Quay.
"I was probably five and I remember always being late for school because I’d be helping her wheel the fish over to the market.”
Trips to Castletownbere
Competition was tough, with 14 stalls in the market at that time and even more outside on Prince’s Street.
“Mam was always pushing the boundaries and so a few years later when fish was scarce and the competition was tough, she got my Dad to get a trailer and we would go down to Castletownbere to get the fish straight off the boat.
"She might be up at 6am, work a full day, drive to Castletownbere, some nights getting back at midnight, before getting up and doing it all again.
"But you know, she never saw it as work, she loved it and it was just what she did.”
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh Even though Pat grew up with the business, he went to study in CIT and worked in city hall when he was 20. However, three years later he was back in the market working with his mother and brother.
“The truth is, I missed the market – the buzz, the people, the competition – it gets under your skin.”
The end of an era
However, the business was never to be the same again when in 2008 Kathleen passed away. “She never told us she was sick,” says Pat.
“We found out she had cancer on a Thursday and she passed the following Friday.
"She worked on the stall right up until a few weeks beforehand. She was 63 when she died. Very young, very young.” His voice is so quiet reflecting on that time that I can barely catch the words. “We got on with life, or so I thought. About three months after she passed, I was walking in the Prince’s Street entrance on a cold winter morning and it hit me like a tonne of bricks.”
Standing out from the crowd
It wasn’t just Pat and Paul who missed their mother, it was the whole market. “We were really at the forefront now,” says Pat.
“It was challenging, my mother was a huge personality. That doesn’t come to me naturally, I would be shyer, more like my dad in that regard.
"But we had the best example of a business person and we had to think, what would she do? We had to get out there, stand out from the crowd, not just in personality but with our fish.
"My mother used to always have the staples. You needed the mackerel and the herring but she realised there was also a market for more upmarket fish such as black sole, turbot, brill and prawns.
"We have constantly had to make sure we are meeting all our customers’ needs.”
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh In the 20 years since Pat and Paul took over the business, they have carved out their roles and now his daughter Emma and nephew Sean are also involved in the business.
“How do Paul and I get on? Nightmare,” laughs Pat. “Ah no, we are very different but we work together well.
"Paul is the man who is filleting the fish and doing the dragging and hauling. He would drive to Donegal if he thought there was fish there, not a bother on him.
"I am much more involved with the business end of things, with the Cork Business Association and the market traders.
"That wouldn’t be his cup of tea at all but he knows it gets us out there and it helps us build links and I couldn’t do all that without him behind me.”
Young Offenders
These links certainly helped get Pat get there on his most recent TV appearances on The Young Offenders.
“What a laugh we have had on that show. A group of Cork guys approached us saying they wanted to do a film about Cork and were willing to put their money where their mouth was.
Look, they have their finger on the pulse, they knew if you were filming in Cork, you had to have the market in it, so why wouldn’t you want to help them out.
Despite being on the big and small screen with the most recent series on RTÉ, Pat said the most exciting moment was the series launch.
“There were 1,000 people packed into the market and I looked around and said, this is it, the next generation.
"For some, it’s their first introduction to the market, their first memory, and it’s going to last forever.”
Royal laugh
The night got many laughs but probably the most famous laugh of the English Market was the Queen’s laugh.
Pat’s joke, a moment caught in time that produced a laugh so big, it radiated far beyond the market gates.
Pat O'Connell of Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants, The English Market, Cork City. \ Clare Keogh “Ah what a day that was. Before the Queen arrived, we did a practice run but it was fierce stiff and formal.
I just thought, if she is here to see the market, we should show her it as it really is. If we are proud enough to be here and be Irish, we should be proud enough of what we do.
“So she came to the stall and I greeted her, and I started to take her through the different fish and then we came to the monkfish.
"That’s when I said: ‘And here your Majesty, we have the monkfish but around here we call it the mother-in-law.’
"Now it could have really backfired on me but when she started laughing, I said, right, this lady has got a sense of humour.
"So we started chatting again and I said to her: ‘I have to admit, I’m a little bit nervous, I haven’t been this nervous since this day 30 years ago, it’s my wedding anniversary.’
"She asked: ‘Are you okay now?’ And when I replied ‘kinda’, I got an even bigger laugh. That was the moment, the laugh that was captured on camera.”
Pat said after that moment he received letters from across the world expressing how proud people were to be Irish, to be from Cork, how proud they were of the market.
The moment is only tainted by one person missing on the day.
“I always joke that my mother couldn’t have been there, we couldn’t have had two queens. But she was there in spirit and she would have been immensely proud to say the queen of England had visited K O’Connell’s fishmonger, the stall she built from scratch.”
Indeed, Kathleen could only be proud of what has been achieved in the 20 years since she is gone but no doubt her name is stronger than ever.
Read more
It's all for the love of Butchery at James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel
20 years of the Tannery
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