Its history is a story of a small, traditional family business growing into a multi-faceted creative hub and independent publishing powerhouse.

The shop was originally founded as a traditional family-run enterprise on Castle Street in Castlebar. For its first twenty years, it operated primarily as a classic local book and card center.

During an era when large corporate chain stores began dominating the high street, the shop carved out a deeply loyal following by focusing heavily on community connection and stocking a dedicated, comprehensive selection of regional history, local folklore, and books written by Mayo author

A major turning point for the business came in 2012 when David Brennan, a qualified accountant who was born and raised in Castlebar, took over the family business.

Under Brennan's leadership, the vision for the bookshop expanded dramatically. The goal was to transform a traditional retail space into a vibrant community gathering point. In 2022, the business made a monumental move, expanding from its original footprint into a prominent Main Street/Market Street location in Castlebar.

The new home of Castle Books brought its own layers of rich local history. The shop moved into the former 19th-century studio of Thomas Wynne, one of Connacht’s most famous pioneering photographers.

The family meticulously preserved the historic, airy character of the building while modernizing the layout:

• The Ground Floor: Houses a traditional independent bookstore, heavily emphasizing local Irish interest, new releases, classics, and an extensive Irish-language section.
• The Upper Floor: Features a bright café under historic skylights, serving coffee and locally produced cakes.
• The "Wall of Wool": In a charming nod to traditional Irish merchant history—where bookshops historically shared spaces with haberdasheries and drapers—the upper floor features a dedicated yarn section selling ethical and cruelty-free wool.
• The Art Gallery: The walls are continuously lined with a changing gallery of works by contemporary regional artists, interspersed with historical prints of Wynne’s original 19th-century photography.

Recognizing the massive amount of untapped writing talent emerging from the West of Ireland, David Brennan founded Mayo Books Press in 2020, operating out of the bookstore.

The publishing house was established to provide a high-quality professional platform for local history, poetry, creative non-fiction, and memoir. It has quickly grown into a widely respected independent publisher, collaborating with regional editors and authors to produce award-winning titles that capture the rural Irish experience. Alongside the physical press, their sister site, mayobooks.ie, became a vital global e-commerce portal, shipping local Mayo literature to the global diaspora.

Today, Castle Books is widely regarded as one of the premier literary hubs in Connacht. It is heavily involved with regional arts movements, working alongside local festivals like the Wild Atlantic Words literary festival. Backed by community grants (including the Books at One community fund), the shop uses its unique space to host free weekly creative writing classes, local board game evenings, and intimate book launch events, ensuring it remains the true beating heart of Castlebar's cultural community.

Castle Street & Main Street, Castlebar, Ireland, Co. Mayo

Links mayobooks.ie

 thecastlebookshop

(094) 902 4422

thecastlebookshopcastlebar@gmail.com

"Every bookshop has a story. Between the Shelves tells them.

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Established in 2016 through the backing of the philanthropic One Foundation, the shop was transformed from two derelict buildings on Bridge Street into a stunning, high-end "destination bookshop."

As a social enterprise, its mission goes far beyond selling books; it is designed to act as a vital social and creative hub to combat rural isolation and foster regional regeneration. 

The Louisburgh shop blends the charm of a cozy, traditional independent bookstore with impressive modern resources: Upstairs, the shop features a modern co-working hub with high-speed Wi-Fi, desk hire, and a meeting room, and downstairs an art gallery showcasing changing exhibitions by regional artists, all offering beautiful views stretching out toward the land and sea.

The real magic of the Louisburgh branch lies in its packed weekly calendar of inclusive, community-driven events. On any given week, the space is alive with activity, including community groups like Caintagus Comhrá (Irish conversation circles), knitting clubs, Ukrainian-English language integration classes, film nights, alongside regular meetings of the West Mayo Writers’ Group, who gather in the upstairs creative space to share and critique new work. 

Children’s Storytime is also a very popular event which takes place on the last Saturday of every month in the children’s room. 

Nestled dynamically along the Wild Atlantic Way between Croagh Patrick and the Mweelrea mountains, the Louisburgh flagship stands as a glowing blueprint for how a local bookstore can successfully serve as a town's cultural anchor

Bridge Street, Clooncarrabaun,Louisburgh,Co. Mayo,F28 YW28

“Every bookshop has a story. Between the Shelves tells them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Every bookshop has a story. Between the Shelves tells them.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The story begins with a university romance. Desmond Kenny, a native Galwegian, and Maureen Canning, from Mohill, County Leitrim, met on their very first day at University College Galway (UCG). Upon graduating, they married. With few jobs available during World War II, the young couple decided to open a bookshop—a move friends and family considered an act of financial madness.

With a £100 bank loan and books donated by relatives, they opened Kennys Bookshop on November 29, 1940, on High Street, Galway. They rented two rooms, living in the back room and running the shop out of the front. To survive, they had to be incredibly inventive: they operated a lending library, ran a second-hand schoolbook exchange, and Desmond traveled on the road selling books directly to county libraries.

In the 1950s, Maureen began introducing locally handmade Irish crafts (rugs, sweaters, ceramics) to add color to the shop. This naturally attracted visual artists. In 1953, they hosted their first art exhibition, hanging paintings directly over and among the bookshelves.

By 1968, the art collection demanded its own space. Desmond and Maureen converted the living room of their family home in Salthill, effectively opening the first commercial art gallery in the West of Ireland. Their inaugural formal exhibition featured legendary Irish painter Seán Keating. .

By the 1970s, five of the Kennys' six children had entered the family business, each expanding a different arm of the trade (such as establishing a dedicated Book Bindery in 1974).

The shop became a famous gathering place for local poets, bibliophiles, and international authors. Famous faces like Edna O'Brien, John McGahern, Seamus Heaney, Kate O'Brien, and Frank O'Connor were frequent visitors, and Kennys began a tradition of photographing every writer who walked through their doors.

In the early 1980s, the family bought the High Street building they had been renting for 40 years, along with the building behind it on Middle Street, connecting them into a massive, multi-story literary maze. Their expertise in Irish literature led to the US Library of Congress appointing Kennys as its official Irish book supplier.

Long before major multinational corporations came to dominate internet commerce, Kennys made history. In the summer of 1994, collaborating with Barry Flanagan (founder of Ireland On-Line), they launched Kennys.ie. It was Ireland’s first ever e-commerce website and only the second bookstore in the entire world to sell books online. They beat Amazon to the web by a full year. Because they already had an international database and a product that was easily shippable, the digital venture exploded, allowing them to ship rare, second-hand, and new Irish books to collectors across 150 countries

In 2006, after 66 years on High Street, the family made the monumental and emotional decision to close their historic city-center doors to pivot fully toward their massive online trade and wholesale operations.

In 2009, Kennys consolidated everything—their retail shop, the art gallery, and their vast warehouse of hundreds of thousands of volumes—into their current premises at Liosbán Retail Park (just outside Galway city center). True to the spirit of the shop, the matriarch Maureen Kenny fully backed the move before her passing, famously stating, "You have to move with the times."

Liosbán Retail Park

Tuam Road

Galway

H91 N5P8

Ireland

Tel : +353 (0)91 709350

Email : books@kennys.ie

"Every bookshop has a story. Between the Shelves tells them.

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Established in 2006, it has evolved from a local retail space into a vibrant cultural anchor for the community, recognized across the North West of Ireland for its passionate curation and distinct independent spirit.

The shop is situated on Bridge Street in Carrick-on-Shannon. Despite its modest, cozy physical footprint, it is widely renowned for "punching well above its weight" with a meticulously selected, highly diverse inventory.

Rather than relying entirely on mass-market bestsellers, the shop prides itself on an eclectic, intelligent mix of:

• Contemporary and classic literary fiction.
• Local history, Irish heritage, and regional poetry.
• An expansive, thoughtfully curated children's literature section.

A hallmark of the shop's identity is its focus on personalized discovery. Its heavily frequented "Staff Recommendations" shelf features hand-written reviews and tailored suggestions, establishing the shop's reputation for helping readers unearth rare or hard-to-find indie titles that larger chain stores frequently overlook.

Beyond standard retail, The Reading Room functions as an active literary center for County Leitrim. It routinely hosts local book clubs, poetry readings, and author events, frequently collaborating with regional arts initiatives and local government cultural programs.

To reach book lovers beyond Leitrim, the shop operates a highly successful bespoke book subscription service. Through this program, the staff selects a personalized book each month tailored entirely to an individual subscriber's specific reading tastes and profiles, shipping them across Ireland and internationally.

Adding to the location's distinct charm for visiting bibliophiles, the shop sits directly across the road from Trinity Rare Books—a treasure trove of antiquarian and secondhand volumes. Together, the two independent shops form a highly regarded, collaborative "literary microclimate" on Bridge Street that attracts collectors and readers from all over the country.

The Reading Room Book Shop,

Bridge St,

Carrick-on-Shannon,

Co Leitrim

Tel: (071) 9671580

Email: books@thereadingroom.ie

Web www.new.thereadingroom.ie

"Every bookshop has a story. Between the Shelves tells them.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.