Mayo Leisure Point at 30: 'The family element is key'
Cora Mulroy and her family have developed a number of successful businesses on the site of the old Bacon Factory in Castlebar.
Cora Mulroy comes from a Castlebar business dynasty. The Mulroy family are well known for their various ventures in the county town and Cora is at the heart of one of those – Mayo Leisure Point.
Cora and her sister Breda manage the business – which is a complete entertainment destination for all ages, housed at the site of the old Bacon Factory. Deeply ingrained in this business is a family ethos, not just within the Mulroy family but with their long-serving staff and the generations of people who have come through the doors to have their own birthday parties and now their children’s parties. Mayo Leisure Point is marking 30 years in business this month, but you get the feeling it will be around for many more years.
I sat down with Cora in the heart of the centre to chat about its origins.
Cora, thanks for talking to me. Can you tell us a little bit about your own background?
I was born in Castlebar and went to school in St Joseph’s and Davitt College, Castlebar, and then went on to college in Galway RTC and got my degree in marketing. I went to London in 1987 and spent three years working there but always had a desire to travel to Australia. In 1990, myself and my partner decided to head off to Australia. We spent almost two years there and came back to Ireland then with the plan to go back to Australia, but never got back.
So you came back and were working away but your Dad had made an investment while you were away.
While I was in Australia, my Dad had bought the Bacon Factory in Castlebar, with no immediate plans for it, but had decided that it was a good investment at the time. When I arrived back in Ireland in '91, we had a family gathering to see what ideas anybody had, and we came up with the idea of opening a bowling alley. At that time there wasn't a bowling alley in Mayo and we used to go to Galway some Friday evenings to the one on the Headford Road. We thought, well, let's just open a bowling alley.
"I have to say, within about two weeks, he had the plans drawn up. We opened Mayo Roller Bowl in November '93 and It became a reality very quickly.
"We didn’t know much about running a bowling alley, so we spent a week working in the Tralee Bowling Alley to get to grips with running it. I suppose Dad had researched where he could get bowling lanes because, again, they don't come by very easily either. A centre in Dublin was closing at the time, Crumlin Bowling Alley, and they had 16 lanes. We took eight to Castlebar and eight of them went to Sligo.
"All of the family, Dad, Mum, sisters and brothers all roped in at the start to help where we could. I'm not really sure what we were doing, but we got through the first week, and we just took it on from there and it literally has just grown and diversified and from strength to strength in that 30 years. My sister Brenda and I now manage all the businesses, with the help of great managers and staff.
Even the fact that your Dad had purchased the Bacon Factory, that in itself was an institution in Castlebar.
I think the town was devastated when the word came that the Bacon Factory was closing because it was a huge part of Castlebar. The whole shock of what's going to happen to that building and the jobs was a big reality for people when it did close.
"I suppose Dad would have had that foresight to think there was huge potential in this area. Many of the original buildings are still here, where the bowling lanes are, Castle Leisure Club and Kachina Spa.
The family element to the business is a big part of it - that is important to people coming through the doors too.
I suppose the fact that we're a family and everyone that comes in the door is treated as part of the family is important. All our staff, we treat them as family – many of them have been with us for over 25 years. We all get on so well here. We have great respect for each other and we all work really well together. It's for the love of the business that we're all here - and to help and support each other. We want to make sure that when families, groups, or individuals come in the door they leave happy and that they enjoy themselves while they're here.
"Over 30 years, we had loyal customers with a huge part of our business being special needs groups, the Irish Wheelchair Association, National Learning Network, Rehab Care, and many more. They all come in here every single week and it's a huge part of their week. It's like home from home because all the staff knows them by name. They absolutely love coming into the bowling alley.
"Active age groups, youth groups, foreign students, families, come into us on a regular basis, and they love seeing the same familiar faces looking after them. I suppose families have grown up and people have grown up with the bowling alley and we have people now coming in with their kids having their birthday parties when they had their own birthday parties here 20-plus years ago.
You mentioned having to diversify over the years, that's something that has to happen in every business, isn't it?
When we opened in '93, we opened with the eight bowling lanes and the snack bar area, pool room and snooker and we had a games room. We then built on a kids' play area and then we added on Q-2000 Laser World. A few years later, we opened Hog's Heaven Bar, which is 27 years old in November.
"In 1998, we opened Mayo Movie World, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. We opened another area over Hog's Heaven Bar called Castle Fitness, which had an aerobics studio and classes, which then 22 years ago became Castle Leisure Club when we built a swimming pool and a sauna, jacuzzi, and aerobic studio, and a massive gym area. We also opened Magno's Restaurant - the restaurant was upstairs where we now have Garbo's Music Venue and we also had go-karting.
"When you look at how we have moved in those 30 years, what we've added on, some businesses which may not be there anymore, but they've been changed to other businesses, it's constantly changing. Eight years ago, we did a massive refurbishment on the bowling alley, invested in all new bowling machines, and updated the whole look.
"When the pandemic hit us, of course, we closed all of our indoor businesses and we had to look at outdoor and something else we could provide for people. Then we came up with the drive-in movies. To be able to provide families with a form of entertainment during such uncertain times was brilliant. We were able to bring popcorn and drinks and food to people's cars and provide them with movies that were literally the latest movies that were still being shown in America but hadn't come to the cinemas in Ireland and the UK because they were all closed. We had a lot of our staff still working with us and we all still had fun in doing it.
"Then I suppose the next challenge was when we couldn't open the bar in Hog's Heaven Bar or at the bowling alley, so then we decided we'd set up a whole outdoor dining area for food, drinks, and again, we put in a stage and we did live music with some fantastic bands - we had Jack L, The 4 Of Us, Paddy Casey and some local bands all performing on the outdoor stage. This was a great time, despite the restrictions, and we had great fun entertaining all our customers.
The complex has picked up some awards in recent times too.
We won a Mayo Business Award five years ago and last year we were shortlisted for the Inclusion and Accessibility Awards, and are shortlisted for this year's Mayo Business Awards in Ballina on November 10, so fingers crossed.
"Inclusion and accessibility is what we are about in Mayo Leisure Point and Mayo Movie World. What's fabulous about the centre is there is some form of entertainment for everybody from the age of 0 to 99 years. It's inclusive to everybody, whether you've got an additional need or a physical need, everybody can bowl, they can go to the cinema, they can have a cup of coffee. That's what's so lovely about this business: there's nobody that you can't entertain. I recently won the Network Ireland Mayo branch Networker of the Year award and went on to the National Awards. Mayo Movie World has also won awards in customer service over the years.
You don't rest on your laurels either Cora?
As you probably see at the moment, we are doing a repainting job, and new signage going up for our 30th anniversary. We are also having a big weekend here on November 10, 11 and 12, and we will include the cinema's 25th anniversary as well. We have a lot going on including a family fun day on Sunday, November 12. Midwest Radio will be with us on Friday, November 10, and Saturday, November 11, to help celebrate 25 years of movies at Mayo Movie World and 30 years of entertainment at Mayo Leisure Point.
"In January, we hope to have a big launch in Castle Leisure Club. We're opening a Good Life Wellbeing Hub. In business, you have to be able to provide and evolve with people as families get busier and more diverse as well. In business, you can never stand still, and you need to be open to changes and challenges you meet along the way.
