Bernard decides to close for good
FIONA MAGENNIS SPEAKS TO LOCAL GOLDSMITH BERNARD ENGLISH AS HE RETIRES FROM BUSINESS
HE was never a diamond in the rough but he’s learned how to polish a few during his 50 year career, creating stunning bespoke jewellery for thousands of local couples setting out on their journey into married life.
Local Goldsmith Bernard English is retiring from the business and closing the doors to his shop for the last time after almost five decades in the trade.
It marks the end of an era for the popular local man, who opened his first shop in town back in 1977.
A master craftsman who served his apprenticeship in Dublin, Bernard himself is known for having a heart of gold and admits it’s the people and the craic he will miss the most.
The goldsmith says the decision to close up shop for good was not an easy one.
But after five decades, he will call it a day.
HE was never a diamond in the rough but he’s learned how to polish a few during his 50 year career, creating stunning bespoke jewellery for thousands of local couples setting out on their journey into married life.
Local Goldsmith Bernard English is retiring from the business and closing the doors to his shop for the last time after almost five decades in the trade.
It marks the end of an era for the popular local man, who opened his first shop in town back in 1977.
A master craftsman who served his apprenticeship in Dublin, Bernard himself is known for having a heart of gold and admits it’s the people and the craic he will miss the most.
The goldsmith has been synonymous with creating stunning, custom made engagement and wedding rings for almost five decades and says the decision to close up shop for good was not an easy one.
Bernard didn’t always harbour aspirations to be a jeweller, however, and it’s a career that would not have happened but for the intervention of a family friend as Bernard had originally planned to join the ESB along with two of schoolmates.
‘It was a pure accident,’ he laughs when asked what made him decide to become a goldsmith. ‘I was waiting on a call to get into the ESB when a man called Gerard Hopkins said they were looking for trainee goldsmiths in Hopkins and Hopkins. My mother made the appointment, I did the interview, got the job and that was it.
‘In those days it was a seven year apprenticeship because it was a very, very slow training process,’ explains Bernard. ‘You were assigned to work with a goldsmith and you spent a lot of time watching, listening and learning as you did so.
He said one of the first pieces of machinery apprentices used was the jewellers piercing saw, making medals for the GAA and the hospitals.
This then progressed to using the fly presses, stamp out the intricate shapes for the medals, before they were passed on to be individually hand engraved.
‘It was quite fascinating and you were never bored because you werer always doing something different.’
After five years with Hopkins and Hopkins, Bernard moved to Albert Trower jewellers who specialised in making up diamond rings.
IT was here he finished his qualification while working hard making up engagement rings and repairing jewellery.
‘ The repairs varied from jewellery that had been driven over and deformed to couples who would have a fight, split up, the guy would bend the ring out of shape in anger and then they’d end up getting back together!’ he laughs.
Bernard said jewellery back then was made to last. ‘ The quality was better and everything was better and stronger,’ he says. ‘I had a girl in the shop this morning with an eternity ring that had been in the family for years and she wanted to have it resized. It was like new still after all these years. Unfortunately, because it had diamonds all the way around the band, it couldn’t be cut but the quality was amazing.’
While working in Dublin, the local jeweller bought a motorbike which made his daily commute a breeze, and loved socialising in Dublin after his working day was done.
‘We had a lot of fun and we used to go to places like The Cavalier Club and The Go Go Club,’ says Bernard. ‘ Then I got involved in music myself, I started playing bass guitar with The Flynn Family playing weddings and dinner dances.
‘ Then my brother came home from England and we formed a Showband called the Elements along with a few of our mates. We played all around, in Balbriggan, Skerries and The Naul. Anywhere we could get a gig.’
And it was a one of these dances that Bernard met his wife Gabrielle in November 1968.
The couple married three years later and settled in Balbriggan, going on to have three children Mark, Olywn and Louise.
Bernard worked with Albert Trower for a number of years, eventually becoming manager of the shop before deciding to strike out on his own in 1975.
‘I rented a room and carried on repairing jewellery for 14 shops and making wedding bands,’ he explains.
Business was good however, in 1977 the jeweller was the victim of two armed robberies and it was these that prompted the decision to move out of the city centre.
The second robbery, in particular, was a vicious attack when four men held a gun to his head while the robbed the business.
Thankfully, the incident was seen by a bus conductor on a passing bus and he alerted nearby gardaí who managed to apprehend three of those involved. However, the fourth culprit was never caught and the stolen items were not recovered.
‘One of the men had a scar that ran from his forehead to his cheek. Years later we were in the Point Depot at a gig and someone bumped into me and when I turned around he had the same scar. It just brought it all back.
‘ There was no such thing as counselling in those days but it was very traumatic at the time and I suppose that stays with you.’
Following the robberies, Bernard and Gabrielle started to look around for a new premises.
‘ There was a shop in Galway with living accommodation over it, there was one in the Abbey Shopping Centre which was a thriving part of town back then, and one in Laurence Street.’
They eventually made the decision to open in the Abbey Shopping Centre and spent a number of happy years there, making lifelong friendships with neighbouring retailers including John McGovern before moving out onto 38 West Street in the mid1980s where the shop traded for 30 years.
‘At that stage we had progressed to making up our own diamond rings and I had a couple of different apprentices until we eventually got a qualified goldsmith who had been working in Capel Street in Dublin and he worked with us for a number of years.
‘We had the entire ground floor so the workshop was at the back, the shop was at the front and there was a tiny office sandwiched inbetween.’
He said things have changed hugely over the years and these days, skilled goldsmiths are ‘ as rare as hen’s teeth’.
Bernard said he has been extremely fortunate to have craftsman Bob Clifford working alongside him for almost 20 years, after joining as an apprentice goldsmith back in 2001.
‘Bob has been with me for 18 years and he is absolutely excellent. People keep asking me what they will do now we are closing and I tell them ‘ follow Bob’.’
Bernard said he and daughter Olwyn first had the difficult discussion about the future of the shop last summer.
‘It was very very hard to make that decision, we started talking about it in July,’ he explains. ‘I stepped back two years ago, cutting down to a three day week and Olwyn took over the reigns.’
However, as Gabrielle had stepped back from the business three years ago, he said they both felt now was the right time to close the shop as he wants to retire and Olwyn wants to go in a different direction.
Reminiscing about Drogheda’s retail heyday in the 80s and 90s, when West Street was known as the Golden Mile, Bernard laments the introduction of outof-town retail parks and the damage this has done to town centre shopping and says urgent measures are needed if the town centre and independent retailers are to be saved.
‘When we moved to Shop Street in 2016 it was heartwarming and encouraging to see the rise in business but since the Arcadia Group (who own Topshop, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Burtons) moved out of town there has been a huge drop in the number of young women shopping in the centre of town,’ he notes.
He said the day he had to tell the staff, including Bob, Nicola Howard, Emily Mullen and Emma Smith, of the decision to close was, without doubt the ‘ toughest day’ but said they had all given him great support.
He admits it’s the chats and the fun, the craic and the laughter he will miss most of all, as often times customers would poor their heart out and he felt more like a therapist than a jeweller on occasions.
There have been plenty of stories and tales to tell over the years, including one gentleman who bought two diamond rings but gave the wrong one to the wrong person.
‘His wife was delighted but the mistress wasn’t too happy!’ he chuckles.
Looking back on his career and his time in town, Bernard says he hopes to see Drogheda ‘come back to life’ in the near future and admits shutting up shop will be bitter sweet.
‘It is hard to close the door but it is time for a new chapter and I won’t be resting on my laurels, I plan to stay active and get involved in the community so there’ll be plenty to keep me busy.’