This photograph was taken c. 1952 in the winter.... there are no leaves on the trees. The main feature are the railings around the park, which were eventually removed, and which now surround Saint Nicholas' Collegiate Church. The park was used for various reasons... cricket matches , tennis tournaments , Toft's Amusements , gymkhanas , prayer meetings after different processions , and in the case of our photograph, for young fellows playing football.

The main complex on the east side of the Square in those days was Baileys. The building we see on the far left was Bailey's restaurant , behind which was Bailey's Ballroom, a very popular dance hall, The low building to the right of that was Bailey's Garage and Engineering works. They were contracting agents for Ford, Studebaker and Swift cars. Beside that was the entry to Saint Patrick's Avenue and next was Bailey's bicycle shop and Bailey's Hotel. You could get the full tourist package in Baileys.

To the left, out of picture was Kerrigan's Bar and grocery which was later taken over by Poniards. Next to that was Higgins' Grocery and Bar and beside that was Grealish's Saddlery. They had a shop in front and a workshop at the back where they made all kinds of leather goods. The family now have a pub in Gisborne, New Zealand which is known as 'The city of the Sun' because it is the first city in the world to get the light of the new day. So 'The Irish Rover' and it's lounge 'The Saddlery' is the first pub in the world to see the light every day.

Beside Grealish's was Thomas Walsh's bar and grocery which was where Richardson's is today. To the right of Baileys you can see O'Connell's Bar which featured in a television documentary recently. Much of that side of the Square looks completely different today.

Our thanks to Gary Walsh for todays photograph.

We have a request from a Dr. Horst Dickel in Wiesbaden, Germany who is working on a book on German-speaking refugees to Ireland in the Nazi period. He is particularly interested in two refugees to Galway whose names were Heinz and Alice Krotoschin. When they got here they called themselves Henry and Alice Kay. He was offered a job as a free architect (?) in Toft's Circuss by Mrs. Toft in 1940. He lived with his wife and two children in Lenaboy (Avenue ? Park ? Gardens ?). The family may have moved to Dublin at the end of the war. There were a number of other refugees working in Les Modes Modernes in Bohermore and in a factory called Wings. If anybody has information on any of these refugees , Dr. Dickel would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact him via email at ho.dickel@arcor.de or alternately contact TK at 091 534767.

Please forward any queries/comments to oldgalway@kennys.ie