Lar McCarthy helps stem the tide in Bandon with fish shop

The floods made national headlines, but Lar, father to twins born just last year, says the market town is on a comeback. “My mother hails from Bandon. All her brothers and sisters used to sell fish all over Munster,” he says. “They had a lot of vans on the road.”

Lar, whose family has been involved in selling fish since 1821, had a successful trade from his stall in Clonakilty, and had quit the building trade in 2012 to reignite his family’s tradition in the fish markets.

And his fish delivery service to households all over West Cork has been a huge success.

He had helped his mother and grandfather to sell fish in the traditional spot on Harrington’s Corner, in Clonakilty, on Fridays, “in hail, rain or snow”, when he was a boy.

He resumed the tradition there, before finally considering a possible expansion of his business.

“I decided to open in Bandon, because I felt it was a great town,” he said. “We did a survey on it over six months and we concluded that the footfall on South Main Street was very high compared to other towns’ high streets.”

He also noted that two thriving butcher shops were operating nearby and so setting up seemed like a viable option.

“It’s a fantastic business town, with great resilience. They have been through some very bad times and the way that some have come through it, and kept their business going, is a really good sign.”

It’s a long way from his first day selling fish, in 2012, when he barely sold anything over the first three hours and pondered whether he’d made the right decision, and a far cry from the days when his own grandfather travelled the roads by horse and cart, selling fish.

“I always wanted a shop, but I knew it had to be in the right place,” Lar said.

“The people of Bandon are really nice and hugely supportive of new business.”