P.& H. Egan Ltd.

In 1852 P. Egan & Sons began trading from their Bridge House premises as general merchants, provisions, and spirit dealers. Established by Patrick Egan Snr, and his two sons, Patrick and Henry Egan, in 1866 Egan’s had also acquired an interest in the long established Tullamore Brewery owned by Richard Deverell, and by 1882 the brewery employed fifty men. Between their retail outlet, wholesale department, timber yard and brewery the company employed about one hundred people in 1883. The next thirty-five years represented a golden era for the brewery which produced two porters and four ales while also bottling large quantities of Bass’s ales.

In 1896 P. & H. Egan Ltd. was incorporated with a nominal capital of £80,000. In March of the same year they purchased another long established Tullamore business, Stirling & Co., who were successful spirit wholesalers, retailers and mineral water makers. The acquisition enabled Egan’s to develop a strong mineral water brand which fitted neatly into its existing wholesale offering. In 1908, P. H. Egan Ltd had a contract to supply Guinness’ brewery with 28,000 barrels of malted barley from their extensive malt houses in Tullamore and Rathangan. The relationship with Guinness extended over seventy years as suppliers of malted barley and wholesale bottlers of Guinness’ porter. The company continued to transport their malt by canal on barge 42B which Egan’s had commissioned in 1913, until they switched to road transport in 1956. P. & H. Egan also supplied malt to both The Mountjoy Brewery and to John Power’s Distillery.

The company were extensive coal merchants and builder suppliers arising out of their saw mill and timber yard. They built a strong agri-business sector supplying farmers with animal feed, seed, fertilizers and agricultural and farm machinery ‘such as ploughs, harrows, grubbers, etc’. This ‘one stop shop’ model was extended beyond The Bridge House and Tullamore as Egan’s sought to expand by developing a network of over sixteen shops and licensed premises, or ‘branch houses’, in towns and villages through five midland counties. They also acquired three hotels including Colton’s and Hayes’ in Tullamore, and Dooly’s Hotel in Birr.

In 1944 the Directors of P. & H. Egan Ltd included Pat Egan (Chairman), Larry Egan (Managing Director), Francis Egan, Michael Kelly, Frank Slattery and Danny Lynam. The company continued to trade successfully for another twenty-five years until the firm finally entered voluntary liquidation in 1968 after one hundred and sixteen years in business.

Tullamore, Co. Offaly

ISAAR (CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (2011)

October 2024

David Egan, 'P.& H. Egan of Tullamore, 1852-1968', Offaly History Blog. April 8, 2017. https://offalyhistoryblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/p-h-egan-of-tullamore-1852-1968-by-david-egan/