Reinventing the rural post office at Pedals & Boots

The purple reign of the rhododendron is in its final flush as Irish Country Living pulls into the carpark at Pedals & Boots in Lauragh, south Kerry, having taken the foxglove fringed coast road that twists and turns from Kenmare.

And though it’s still early Thursday morning, there is already a gentle hum about this rural post office-turned-café and bike hire business; and not just from the slick Gaggia coffee machine at the counter, presided over by Jenny Murphy, who slips from selling stamps to serving scones.

“They see that as being kind of quirky,” smiles Jenny when asked abou customer reaction to Pedals & Boots, as she and her husband Kilian – just in from delivering the morning’s mail – take a seat to share their story of how they are trying to secure the future of their business, and their family, on the Beara Peninsula.

A FAMILY TRADITION

After all, this is where Kilian grew up. Originally built by the Landsdowne Estate in the 1880s as a home for the local headmaster, the house was bought by his parents, Michael and Mary, in 1965, with the post office wing added in 1968 – an era when it really was at the heart of the community.

“We had the telephone exchange too at that time. Even on Christmas Day we took it for a couple of hours,” recalls Kilian, who worked as relief postman as a teenager, pedalling the peninsula on a pushbike.

He and Jenny – who grew up on a farm towards nearby Tousist – met at secondary school, and have been together since.

“I can’t remember,” she laughs when asked who made the first move. “A mutual move I suppose.”

After school, Kilian was employed as an electronics technician by companies including Apple and Olivetti, while Jenny followed an arts degree with a higher diploma in co-operative organisation, food marketing and rural development, and worked for organisations like the Simon Community, with stints in the UK and Australia as well.

When a part-time position as postman came up in Lauragh in 2000, however, they decided to return home.

“We were always finding stepping stones to move back here,” explains Jenny, who later took over the post office from her mother-in-law when it became automated, moving into the original house in 2012 with their sons, Callum, Conor and Oisin. “It was always a dream of ours.”

DIVERSIFY TO SURVIVE

But while the Murphys went on to introduce services like online banking and AddressPal for cheaper online shopping deliveries to boost business, a declining population, drop in mail volume and a greater push towards electronic payments has meant that they – like many rural post offices – have struggled in recent years, leaving them with little option but to diversify.

“We saw the potential that there was, just more that we could do here,” says Jenny, who completed a start your own business course, followed by a start your own tearoom course in Ballymaloe, with the plan of opening a café at the post office, given their enviable location overlooking Kilmackillogue Harbour.

However, their first application for LEADER funding was turned down, on the basis that a café alone would not be viable. So it was back to the drawing board, which, in retrospect, the couple agree was a positive thing.

“We thought about something that would bring more people to the area, would make it something a bit different,” says Jenny.

That point of difference was to invest in 14 hire bikes for adults and children, and token-operated shower facilities for walkers (hence the name Pedals & Boots) to make the café a destination for a day out, rather than just a quick coffee stop.

They returned to LEADER with their revised plan, and with their support, plus bank backing, invested approximately €150,000 to build and open the café and bike and hike facilities in May 2014.

HEART OF THE COMMUNITY

Today, they employ three part-time staff during their season, which runs from April to September, serving a selection of homemade bakes, sandwiches and soups.

From the beginning, however, they have always gone a step beyond to attract business; whether perfecting their coffee offering by undergoing barista training with Badger & Dodo, providing everything from free maps with suggested cycling routes to packed lunches for day trippers, and – perhaps most crucially in 2017 – free Wi-Fi for customers, through SCC Broadband.

About 60% of their business comes from tourists, and as well as passing trade, they have partnered with boutique tour companies like Driftwood Ireland and Back-Roads Cycling to become one of their designated route stops along the Wild Atlantic Way.

However, Pedals & Boots has also become a focal point for the local community to meet, while also helping to keep vital services in the area.

“I’m sure that the (postal) route here is probably a loss leader as such, but still, it’s an important thing to have in an area,” says Kilian, “because not only are you delivering letters, you might be the only person that somebody will talk to during the day, or even if it’s to change a drum of gas or post a letter for them or whatever, it’s very important.”

(Indeed, such is Kilian’s knowledge of the local community, that on occasion he has even successfully delivered letters addressed to people’s dogs.)

With a review of the An Post network currently ongoing, both agree that the future is far from certain, but hope that their decision to diversify will pay dividends, both for their family and the wider community in Lauragh.

“Having a business like this, it does help an area,” says Jenny, who believes that when services like post offices and schools are threatened, “there’s a lot less chance of people wanting to move to an area”.

“So I suppose that’s what we’re endeavouring to do,” she concludes, “is kind of keep the place alive.” CL

Pedals & Boots, Lauragh, Beara Peninsula, Co Kerry

Tel: 064-668 3101

Web: www.pedalsandboots.ie

Top Tips From Pedals & Boots

GP by video

In another example of diversification, a rural Kildare post office is offering customers a GP service by video link.

Not only can customers at Ballymore Eustace Quikpick and Post Office in Co Kildare pick up their pension or post a letter, they can also access GP services through an innovative pilot project. Postmaster Sean Fogarty explains how the idea came from the local community, through a series of focus groups run last year as part of a Shared Value Initiative – facilitated by communications giant Ericsson.

As a result, the post office has partnered with Irish company VideoDoc to offer consultations with Irish-registered GPs by video link in a private booth, in what was the former sorting office which has been rebranded as The Hub. This service was seen as essential by local people, who currently only have limited access to a local GP for three hours, three mornings a week.

“I feel it’s going to be a backbone to the village here,” says Sean. “It’s not the answer to everything as regards your GP services, but it’s great to have that service here from 8am in the morning until 10 o’clock at night.”

To get people used to the concept, free consultations were offered for the first six weeks, with a €25 fee introduced from June. Sean explains how local reaction has been “terrifically positive”.

“Everybody that comes out, I can see it in their face: ‘Oh my God Sean, I didn’t realise’. It is actually a lot more personal than what you imagine,” he says.

As well as the VideoDoc service, The Hub also offers facilities such as printing, photocopying and Wi-Fi, while there are also plans to introduce a chiropody service and hearing tests.

While he acknowledges that such a diversification project might not work for every post office, he believes it could still solve some of the problems faced by rural Ireland, and would encourage other post masters to consult with their communities about what they need going forward.

“To try and keep some services on a local level to me is one of the biggest aims that we all should have,” he says.