Death of an iconic, colourful, larger than life Offaly business man

THE death has taken place of one of Tullamore's most successful and iconic business men. James, fondly known as Jimmy, Spollen died peacefully on Sunday after a long and active life that was full of achievement.

A larger than life, flamboyant character, Jimmy Spollen was best known as a builder but he was also a hotelier, publican, garage owner, farmer, carpenter, pilot and much more during a long, colourful and very varied life.

He provided a classic case of living life to the maximum and his imprint remains in Tullamore as he constructed or part constructed some of the town's best known housing estates. Included among these are the Hophill estates, Vale, Avenue and Grove; Whitehall Estate, Connolly Park, some of Arden Heights, Ashley Court, Clonminch Avenue, Oakfield, the Cedar's, Grand Canal Court (his last big undertaking) and many more – including council estates and other schemes in Kilkenny, Clara, Ferbane, Clonbullogue, Portarlington and Mountbolus.

In earlier incarnations, he built and was the proprietor of the Killeshin Hotel in Portlaoise and the Hazel Hotel in Monastervan. He owned one of Tullamore's most famous hotels, Hayes Hotel bang in the centre of town at the junction between William Street, Patrick Street and Church Street. Now the location for Boots Pharmacy, it later became the Phoenix Arms and then #1 Church Street, when it was owned by one of his great building competitors in Tullamore, Johnny Flanagan and the Flanagan Group. It was a hugely popular part of the entertainment industry in Tullamore for decades and Spiders Night Club was where generations of young men and women got initiated into adulthood.

He also built and owned a very popular garage on the Church Road, Tullamore Engineering Motor Sales (TEMS) during the 1970s – a decade when he was at the peak of his powers, employing over 200 people through his various enterprises.

He gained a separate fame as the owner of a couple of small airplanes and these were a huge part of his life. He got his pilot's licence, flew to places throughout Ireland, the UK, nearby islands and France. He only stopped flying as his age advanced – sadly this part of his life encountered tragedy as it was his plane that two very popular local men, Frank Maher and John Lonergan were flying when they crashed into the Wicklow Mountains in 1992 and died.

Jimmy Spollen was brave, innovative and a risk taker. He was willing to take chances, struck deals in the early hours of the morning and experienced his shares of highs and lows – with the lows coming during times of recession in the 1970s, '80s and more recently, when the roar of the Celtic Tiger quietened to a whimper. Yet he kept going, moving forward, looking for the next opening and generally managed to land on his feet.

He was a truly extraordinary man, a self made man who found his own path in life, pushed ahead and became a success.

There was nothing in his upbringing to suggest that Jimmy and siblings would become giants of business life in Tullamore. The oldest of 12 boys and two girls, he came from a small farming household in Ballykilmurray, near Ballinamere and yet the Spollen name became absolutely synonymous with Tullamore over several decades. His siblings developed and owned two of the area's most cherished businesses, Cappincur Joinery and Spollen Concrete before they were sold on. Spollen's Pub in High Street was opened by Johnny Spollen and is now run by his son, Ollie and family. Jimmy's youngest brother Brendan developed Castle Paints, Cloncollig and the wider family have been involved in so much that it is hard to document fully.

Born in 1933, Jimmy Spollen left school at 12 years of age and while he knew that their 20 acres of land would not provide him with a living, he retained a passionate love of farming and cherished memories of his childhood right up to the end – he loved to regale listeners with childhood stoies of working the farm, feeding cattle, horses and pigs, ploughing etc.

At an early age, he developed a passion for woodwork and this led to his introduction into the building trade. He took night classes and then day classes in carpentry in the then Tullamore Vocational School in the late 1940s, and later in Bolton Street in Dublin. His first job outside the farm was for a small building contractor in Ballycumber, roofing cottages for Ned and Jim Mealiff. He later worked on the building of one of the biggest housing schemes in Tullamore, Pearse Park and also worked on putting in counters for pubs and businesses in Tullamre.

He worked in Unidare Electrical in Dublin, on mouldings for a new factory they were building and then McInerney's in the capital. Work with Johnny Kilmartin, a joinery workshop owner in Crowe Street – where the High Street entrance to the Bridge Centre now is – brought him back to Tullamore while he also worked with Clancy Boyd, a well known building firm on the New Road.

He worked on the building of Ferbane Power Station, on the construction of new schools in Kilcruttin and all of these experiences sowed the seeds of ambition in him.

He met his wife, Kathleen, a member of a very well known local family, the Hayes in O'Brien's Loft, Ballinamere in 1955 and also started on his own as a builder that year. He first repaired and renovated houses and then began building country cottages and once off, turn key houses from 1956. Jimmy and a team of five workers turned these around from start to finish in a remarkable five weeks. They were a basic house, consisting of a kitchen, sitting room and three bedrooms – they had electricity and running water with a steel sink in the kitchen but no heating or indoor toilets.

They were very much a house for that time, they got many young couples on the property ladder and it was the start of the next phase of his life.

As time wore on, he expanded into bigger houses. He built all over the midlands, as far away as Killucan, Portlaoise, Mullingar: cottages, two storey houses, bungalows, extensions and he was a hands on worker, doing a lot of the plastering and carpentry himself. It all fuelled his ambition and by the time, he finally threw his trowel away, he had built well over 500 houses, on top of his many other enterprises – though he always maintained he had never retired and was plotting his next development.

He married Kathleen in 1958, travelling all over Europe on honeymoon and she was a huge influence on his life, as well as rearing a big family – her death a few years ago devastated him.

He built his own house on the Rahan Road and then his long time residence, nearby on the Clara Road. He also built his own holiday home at Kilfarassay Strand, Tramore, Waterford and family holidays there became part and parcel of life.

He constructed the parochial house in Emo, Laois; a new dance hall in Mountmellick in 1968 and a year later, one of Tullamore's favourite haunts, the Central Ballroom – later a cinema, located where apartments are now on the High Street entrance to the Bridge Centre.

In the late 1960s, his interests expanded into other spheres. He built the Killeshin Hotel and houses on the Dublin road in Portlaoise, effectively running the hotel for a few years – the 42 bedroom hotel was opened in 1971 and while he built it quite reasonably, the cost of equipping it and then running it came as a surprise to him.

He diversified further in 1970 when building and opening Tullamore Engineering Motor Sales, getting Kathleen's brother Matt Hayes to manage it. Initially a Vauxhall dealer, they then became the main Ford dealers in town and also sold farm machinery and tractors.

In 1970, Jimmy and brothers Pat, Thady and Johnny bought one of Tullamore's favourite watering holes, the Tower Lounge on Harbour Street – they had bands such as the Wolfe Tones, Colm Wilkinson and many others drawing in the crowds.

He brought Hayes Hotel in 1975, surprising Kathleen by returning home one night to inform her that she now owned a hotel. He carried out an extensive renovation here but by his own admission, he had too many irons in the fire in the 1970s and by the end of the decade, the Tower, the Hazel, Hayes Hotel, the Killeshin and TEMS had all been sold on. He also had a small hotel on High Streetm, where the entrance to Roselawn now is. He admitted that the hotels were paying their way but he was not making real money on them and something had to give – he also did not have the same intimate knowledge of the hotel and garage trade as building.

His building firm, however, remained buoyant and he channeled all his energy into this. He wheeled and he dealed, buying up acres of land, building on some, selling others on. He sold the land where Roselawn was built off High Street; he completed the development of Whitehall Estate, working hard to solve flooding problems there. He purchased a large area off land from Hophill to Clonminch off a variety of owners, approximately 45 acres, all east of New Road or Bachelor's Walk.

In the 1980s, he finished building at Whitehall and then put up 90 houses at Hophill Grove and other houses followed on at this general location. In the 1990s, his attention turned to the land off the New Road and Ashley Court, Clonminch Avenue, Oakfield and the Cedars were all built.

Development land remains in this area and at Grand Canal Court, off the Daingean Road while he also purchased ground in Ballinamere, Ballinagar, Bracknagh. He had ambitions to build there but the bust put them on hold and he never got to fulfill his plans. The Bracknagh deal went sour in 2003 and he won a court case over this but didn't get back all the money he was due.

Like many business men, he had his share of hardships. He learnt a lot of lessons in the 1970s and was ultimately glad to get out of hotels and the garage. He had to deal with strikes, bank strikes, issues with employees and much more. There were years when money was in short supply in Ireland, houses were built and not sold when he needed; sales fell through and margins were very tight; when he had to fight with council officials over planning permission. There were times when he was at the pin of his collar but he always kept moving, pushing ahead. He made mistakes himself; he encountered engineering problems on buildings but he took the lessons on board every step of the way.

A gregarious, personable, outgoing individual with an air of self confidence, he was engaging, enchanting company. Not everyone he dealt with had positive memories of him – there were rows, falling outs, he could show a hard edge and he did step on toes at times. Through all that, he remained a hugely positive indivdual. He took setbacks in his stride, displayed a capacity to forgive and forget. His attitude is best summed up by this simple statement: “If there were hard times, I don't remember them. That is the way I worked them.”

He had regular loyal workers and had a very good relationship with most of them; sorting out issues in his own unique style.

The sale of the hotels and the garage alleviated the financial strain as well as giving him time to develop a new hobby – flying. In 1981, he purchasd hisfirst airplane, his second one in 1987 and he owned three in all before giving it up over twenty years ago. He took flying lessons in Birr, Abbeyshrule and the Isle of Man, passing his exams in Oxford. His first solo flight from the Isle of Man to Belfast on Easter Sunday 1981 was a proud milestone.

He had an early scare with a small crash on his own airfield on the Clara Road when taking off and while the plane was destroyed, he was unscathed. Flying was a great escape chute for him. He loved the freedom of being in the air, but equally importantly, when things got tough, pressure mounted, he would take off and by the time he returned, a day or a few days later, he was refreshed and ready to take on the world again.

He played hurling in his early youth, winning an Intermediate Hurling Championship with Ballinamere in 1953 while he also hurled with Erins' Isle in Dublin but as his building firm grew and work became his focus, the GAA went out the window.

He was a member of Tullamore Golf Club for years and looked forward to his weekly golf game with family members – the regular fourball occasionally included another prominent Tullamore business man, Pat Heffernan, father of his son, Barry's wife, Mary, who also sadly passed away this year.

A very sociable man, he was at his happiest at the many gatherings of the Spollen family, their inlaws and his grandchildren. He was a consummate host and these were always treasured occasions, looked forward to in advance and then enjoyed fully. He loved holidays at home and abroad and travelled widely, including latter years when he was approaching 90.

One of Tullamore's iconic figures, he leaves a treasure host of fantastic memories for family and friends, and a lasting legacy to his town and county.

Predeceased by his loving wife Kathleen, he will be sadly missed and always remembered by his daughters Nuala Halligan, Dorothy Somers and Jennifer Plunkett, sons Seamus, Donal, David, Barry and Brian, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, his 21 grandchildren, great grandchild, brothers and sisters, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
Reposing at O'Reilly's Funeral Home, Harbour Street, Tullamore, on Monday from 5pm until Rosary that night at 8pm. Removal on Tuesday morning to the Church of the Assumption, Tullamore, arriving for Funeral Mass at 10am. Burial after Mass in Clonminch Cemetery, Tullamore.