CULLEN'S SHOP AT CHRISTMAS
By Rosaleen Crowe

The name of Cullen was a long-established family name in our area. Cullen’s shop used to be the oldest shop on Bath Avenue. It was situated at number seven (where SPAR is today) and sold newspapers, high class confectionery, cigarettes and minerals.

It was also a great shop for buying your Christmas presents. Three months before Christmas Pat Cullen would go over to England to buy the toys.

And at this time of year the shop stayed open from seven in the morning until twelve midnight, such was the extent of the Christmas trade. They also ran a Christmas club where you paid a little off the toys you were buying every week.

Cullens always stocked lots of things that were great value for children. For example, you could get ten rainbow sweets for a penny. Also, a pennies worth of bullseyes, which were black with white stripes, got you a bag that was well and truly full.

Then, if you were thirsty you could get a quarter of loose milk for three pennies. This was kept in a big white dairy bowl with gauze over it.

For half a crown you could buy cheese, bread, milk and sugar. That was a lot of money in those days.

At the time, the British army were stationed at Beggar’s Bush they always spent their money in Cullen’s shop as it was the only shop in the area then.

Cullens also owned a post office and Number 3 Bath Avenue. It was run by Peter and Nellie Cullen and their daughter Jane.

Here, they sold bread, butter and sugar as well as the usual post office fare such as stamps and postal orders.

In addition to the post office, Cullens also ran a Dairy, with cows and horses, in Shaws Lane. It was run by Bob and Henry Cullen, who also had farms in Lucan and Raheny. As well as all the shops they also had a brother, Tom, who did the milk rounds on a horse and cart.

All of their shops and business were well-established and well-known all over and they brought people there from far and wide. Everyone loved Cullens shop as it was always their regular local shop for all their needs and requirements, especially at Christmas.

 

THE MOBILE - A FIRE HAZARD?

 

Many of our readers will, no doubt, be giving, or receiving mobile phones as a present this Christmas, despite the fact that the jury is still out on their possible health risks, which, of course, have been well documented in recent times.

Well, now there is news from the US, where else, that may give you something else to think about, or worry about as the case may be, when your mobile phone rings. Apparently concerns are now being raised about the possibility that the energy from a customers cellphone battery might cause petrol vapours to ignite while you are filling your petrol tank at the local petrol station! Despite the fact that there is no evidence to support these concerns, petrol companies are so worried that they have taken to putting up signs at their service stations, warning customers of the potential dangers and not to use their cellular phones or other personal electronic devices such as pagers or laptop computers.

This ban is already, somewhat surprisingly, being enforced in certain European countries. So, if you happen to pull into a petrol station and see a strange sign, with a picture of a mobile phone with a red line through it, in the near future you’ll know what it means, and, no doubt, you’ll keep you mobile firmly in yourpocket.

 


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