Woodford Bourne

Woodford Bourne advertisement

Advertisement for Woodford Bourne & Co - Wine Merchants, from Guy

Courtesy of Cork City Libraries

Woodford Bourne advertisement
Courtesy of Cork City Libraries

Woodford Bourne advertisement

Advertisement for Woodford Bourne & Co - Wine Merchants, from Guy

Courtesy of Cork City Libraries

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One of the most distinctive buildings in the centre of Cork city is situated at the junction of Saint Patrick's Street and Daunts' Square. This building now houses McDonald's but was for over a century the well-known premises of Woodford, Bourne & Co., grocers and wine merchants. The company can trace its origins back to a firm of wine merchants named Maziere and Sainthill which was trading in Cork as early as 1750. Maziere and Sainthill had premises in Nelson's Place, the older name for Emmet Place.

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Woodford had a grocery shop on the Grand Parade. He died from an illness contracted while he was engaged in charitable work during the Famine.  After his death his widow married a Mr Bourne, who was an employee of Woodford's, and thereafter the firm was known as Woodford, Bourne & Co. In 1869, Woodford Bourne bought the stock of the wine merchant Richard Sainthill and expanded the business to include wines. An employee of the firm, James Adam Nicholson, an immigrant from England, eventually became sole owner and the firm remained in the hands of the Nicholson family for generations. The shop on Saint Patrick's Street was one of the best-stocked shops in the city and the firm also owned extensive warehouse premises on Sheare's Street.

In the 1980, the shop was converted to a fast-food outlet named 'Mandy's' and the premises was taken over by McDonald's in the mid-1980s.