Shop sign sees the light after decades
A PIECE of Wexford retail history was uncovered during work on the front of Barker’s shop in South Main Street.
When a water-damaged fascia and shop sign were removed to make way for a replacement, it revealed the perfectly preserved sign for Paddy Lyons shoe shop, which closed down nearly 30 years ago.
Paddy Lyons was an institution in Wexford town, selling shoes to generations of locals. Following the death of its namesake owner, it was taken over by a nephew from Cork who ran it for a time.
During the 1916 centenary celebrations in 2016, local historian Nicky Furlong brought a tour to view an upstairs room over Barkers where rebel meetings were held 100 years earlier.
The old shop sign had been preserved by the erection of a second fascia over the Paddy Lyons name when Barkers proprietor Bertha Asple rented the adjoining premises to facilitate the expansion of her shop in the early 1990s.
She had opened her lifestyle and home interiors outlet in 1986, retaining the original name of Barker’s, which was a well-known gift and homeware shop in the town for many years.
When the new shop sign went in last week, the name of Paddy Lyons was again preserved for posterity underneath.