08/06/2026
Looking out the upstairs window of Supermacs today one would be surprised to see horse-drawn carts and a couple of dozen calves on Eyre Square, all behind a line of what today look like a fleet of gangster cars from the black and white television era!
Perhaps so, but back around 1946 that would have been fairly commonplace!
Published in Life Magazine after the end of WWII, this lovely photo was taken of the calf fair on Eyre Square, from the upstairs window of what was then the Royal Hotel, that had at that stage, already traded there for a hundred years or more.
From the 1830’s the hotel was the staging post for the Bianconi coaches, known as ‘Bians’, that brought mail, and coach passengers on the long, bumpy ride from Galway to Dublin,.
Later on, after the railway from Dublin was built in 1850, the coaches brought passengers to and from Galway, from towns like Clifden, Limerick, Westport, Tuam and Sligo.
Some of the carriages carried as many as 19 passengers, seated jaunting car-style, seated outside the carriage, facing out on each side, exposed to the elements.
Later on, by 1900, this spot on Eyre Square became the terminus for the Salthill tram line, that wended through the city on iron rails that were set flush with the surface of the cobbled street, down William St and Shop St, across O’Briens bridge, down Dominick St, past the old Crane and the Jes church, and around the Crescent, turning by Nile Lodge, into Salthill, and out to the terminus at Donnellan’s and Finans pubs, beside the Eglinton Hotel, now Lonergan’s and Killorans.
At first the passengers were transported by double-decker horse-drawn trams and later by motorised trams.
The tramline closed in the mid-1920’s, to be replaced by the omnibuses of the nascent CIE / Bus Eireann.
The Royal hotel closed in 1952. It was was demolished in 1953, to be replaced by Woolworths, a store that became synonymous with every day-trip and visit to the city.
The store was a big employer in 1950’s and ‘60’s Galway, but along with all the shops in the Woolworth chain in Ireland, it closed in 1985, the building was demolished, and within two years was replaced by Supermacs!
I don’t think they serve veal in Supermacs, but if they did, the calves were sold right outside its door!
Brian Nolan - Walking Tours of Galway
