Donnybrook Fair was a fair that was held in Donnybrook, Dublin, from the 13th century until the 1850s. It has given its name to an Irish jig, a chain of food stores, a broadsheet ballad, and is a slang term for a brawl or riot. [1]
In the year 1204 King John of England granted a licence to the corporation of Dublin to hold an annual eight-day fair in Donnybrook.
In 1252 the duration was extended to fifteen days. Over the years, the terms of holding the fair changed slightly, until in the 18th century it was held on 26 August on Donnybrook Green for a fortnight (two weeks). [2]
By the beginning of the 19th century, the fair had become more a site of public entertainment and drinking than a fair proper, and many attempts were made to have it abolished. However, the licence-holder had by law the right to hold the fair and refused to bow to public pressure. [2]
The licence had been passed from Henry Ussher (died 1756) to William Wolsey, who leased it in 1778 to John Madden and then sold it to him in 1812. A committee, The Committee for the Abolition of Donnybrook Fair, was established to acquire the licence in order to put an end to it, and it was finally bought from John and Peter Madden in 1855 for £3,000, under the auspices of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Joseph Boyce. [2]
A broadside ballad called "The Humours of Donnybrook Fair" dates from the 18th century, author unknown. It was recorded by Tommy Makem.
The popular Irish double-jig known as "Donnybrook Fair" is also called "The Humours of Donnybrook" or "The Humours of Donnybrook Fair". [3]
The term "Donnybrook Fair" is used as a brand by a chain of food retail stores which was founded in 1999 and acquired by the Musgrave Group in 2018. [4] [5] One of the chain's first stores, in Donnybrook village, was opened 500 metres from the site of the original fair in Donnybrook.[ citation needed ]
Donnybrook is a district of Dublin, Ireland. It is situated on the southside of the city, in the Dublin 4 postal district, and is home to the Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It was once part of the Pembroke Township. Its neighbouring suburbs are Ballsbridge, Sandymount, Ranelagh and Clonskeagh.
WH Smith PLC, trading as WHSmith, is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery.
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym for the retail sector.
Iceland Foods Ltd, trading as Iceland, is a British supermarket chain headquartered in Deeside, Wales. It mainly sells frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables, alongside non-frozen grocery items such as produce, meat, dairy and dry goods. The company also operates a chain of shops called The Food Warehouse.
BWG Foods UC is an Irish wholesaler and retail grocery franchise operator.
Superquinn was an Irish supermarket chain, founded in 1960 and entirely privately owned by the Quinn family. Select Retail Holdings, a property buying consortium, purchased the company from the Quinn family in 2005. A receiver was appointed to the company on 18 July 2011, and the following day the company was bought by Musgrave Group for an undisclosed sum. On 13 February 2014 all remaining stores were rebranded as SuperValu.
Dunnes Stores is an Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. It was founded by Ben Dunne in 1944. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain also has operations in Spain, and formerly in England and Scotland. The format of most of the chain's stores in Ireland involves a grocery supermarket operating alongside a clothing/textiles store, although some stores contain only textiles and some contain only a supermarket. The grocery side of the business does not operate outside of Ireland, save for a limited grocery range in the Spanish stores. The larger stores usually contain a café branded as either Café Sol, Dunnes Stores Café or Baxter & Greene Market Café.
Budgens Stores Ltd, trading as Budgens, is a chain of grocery stores in the United Kingdom. The business was founded in 1872 by John Budgen, who opened the first shop in Maidenhead, Berkshire and was incorporated as a private limited company on 28 May 1962. The company is a subsidiary and retail fascia of Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.
Crumlin is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Formerly a rural area, it became heavily built up from the early 20th century onwards. Crumlin is the site of Ireland's largest children's hospital, Our Lady's Children's Hospital.
Musgrave Group Ltd. is an Irish food wholesaler, founded in Cork by the Musgrave brothers, Thomas and Stuart in 1876. It is currently Ireland's largest grocery distributor, with operations in Ireland and Spain with estimated annual sales of over €4 billion. The current CEO is Noel Keeley. Today, the company is still largely-owned by the Musgrave family.
Debenhams Ireland was a national chain of department stores in Ireland, that was owned ultimately by Debenhams plc. It was largely based on the former Roches Store chain, though after that business divested its grocery units.
In the Republic of Ireland, the retail sector provides one of the largest sources of employment in the economy, representing over 12% of the workforce. As of 2017, approximately 40,000 wholesale and retail businesses employed almost 280,000 people in Ireland, with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment reporting that 90% of these businesses were Irish-owned.
John Lewis & Partners is a British brand of high-end department stores operating throughout the United Kingdom, with concessions also located in Ireland. The brand sells general merchandise as part of the employee-owned mutual organisation known as the John Lewis Partnership, the largest co-operative in the United Kingdom. It was created by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis, in 1929. From 1925 to 2022, the chain had a policy that it would always at least match a lower price offered by a national high street competitor; this pledge was known by the name "Never Knowingly Undersold".
Weingarten's was a supermarket chain in the Southern United States until it was acquired by Safeway in 1983. J. Weingarten, Inc. had its headquarters in what is now the East End in Houston, Texas.
Richard Robert Madden was an Irish doctor, writer, abolitionist and historian of the United Irishmen. Madden took an active role in trying to impose anti-slavery rules in Jamaica on behalf of the British government.
Eason Retail PLC, known as Easons or Eason, is an Irish retail company best known for selling books, stationery, cards, gifts, newspapers and magazines. Headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, it is the largest supplier of books, magazines, and newspapers in Ireland.
Donnybrook Fair was an annual fair that used to be held in Donnybrook, Dublin, and a slang term for a brawl or riot.
Insomnia Coffee Company is an Irish independent coffee chain, with headquarters in Dublin. The first store location opened in the back of a Galway bookstore in August 1997. The company has over 150 stores and over 400 self-service units in operation around Ireland. Insomnia stores serve both hot and cold drinks, coffee, sandwiches, salads, soups, snacks, cakes, and pastries.
Between the Jigs and the Reels: A Retrospective is a two-disc anthology by the Irish folk band Planxty. It includes a 17-track CD and a 36-track DVD with over two hours of previously unreleased footage (1972–1982) from RTÉ archives.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)