"A lifetime of memories" - Plans to demolish Kildare restaurant

A planning application has been submitted for a €1.4 million warehouse development at the site of the former Mother Hubbard restaurant in Moyvalley, Broadford, Co. Kildare.

The famous eatery was a landmark on the old Dublin to Galway road and a favourite for truck drivers. 

The proposal, lodged by O'Shea Shotblasting & Painting Ltd, seeks to redevelop the vacant site into a single-storey warehouse building with an ancillary workshop, new signage, and associated site infrastructure. The development is designed to replace the disused restaurant building and surrounding structures, which have been vacant for some time.

The site, located in Moyvalley, previously operated as the Mother Hubbard restaurant and includes existing fencing, unused overground storage tanks, and concrete hardstanding areas. Under the proposal, these structures would be demolished and removed to make way for the new industrial facility.

READ NEXT; Kildare pub to close after 120 years. 

According to the plans, the development will include a modern warehouse unit with workshop space, along with a dedicated underground firefighting water storage tank to meet safety requirements. The scheme also includes relocation of storage containers currently on site, along with new boundary fencing and gated access points.

Parking provision forms part of the application, with new car parking spaces planned, including dedicated disabled parking bays and electric vehicle charging facilities. The design also incorporates landscaping works intended to improve the visual appearance of the redeveloped site and integrate it into the surrounding environment.

One person who had their first job at Mother Hubbards, wrote a long tribute on Facebook.

They said: "The end of what was Mother Hubbard’s in Moyvalley is coming close. It’s a very sad story that nobody ever reopened it. It carried a lifetime of memories for so many. Covid closed its doors. It was a community hub for all who travelled the old road from Dublin to Galway, and such a wonderful facility over the last 20 years, employing local people and holding the door open to so many - creating a thriving place to meet and connect with friends.

I owe so much to Mother Hubbard’s. It was not just my first job, but my first family of friends as a young person.

In Ireland, the demolition of places, buildings, homes and things that are important to our past seems to be commonplace these days. I don’t blame the new owners - everyone has a right to do what they want, of course - it’s just a pity that local government, councils and representatives didn’t try to save it in the last five years, or even revive or reopen it as it sat dormant and unused.

So much money is wasted in this country on all sorts of things, and then invaluable community locations are lost and forgotten. I just passed the Monastery in Clonard too - another place of community and connection lost, gone, and given up on. These are the kinds of local resources government should be investing in and supporting. They should not be allowed to fade away when they provided so much to so many for decades.

I always wondered why Mother Hubbard’s wasn’t converted into a shop or a community centre - a coffee shop, a small grocer. Its old services were so useful to so many. No wonder people feel lonely and lost when you think about it. Mother Hubbard’s is just one place, like so many across the country, that those in charge could invest in - but they don’t. Instead, they let them fade, day by day.

These places in rural locations that once opened their doors to us all are closing forever and then disappearing before our eyes - the centres of local connection. I was so lucky to know what it was like for local people to see each other and for people to know my name. It’s the younger generation I feel for - they are missing out.

Eating together in a local environment adds to the pride you have in the place you live. It gives you another place to belong beyond your home, school and football club. A restaurant allows everyone to fit in together.

Maybe it’s just me getting older, but I think we used to do things better. We placed more value on what worked well for everyone, if that makes sense. We had a stronger focus on what supported and built a community - a shared sense of looking out for one another.

I suppose I just know what Mother Hubbard’s in Moyvalley offered, and that’s why I feel nostalgic seeing it go. It will be a sad day when it’s knocked, but that’s the world we live in now. Progress and change are all part of modern life - onwards we go.

Thanks, Mother Hubbard’s - you were a gift in your day. Even if the building is gone in the future, nobody will forget the memories and friendships you gave to so many memories.