Ferreting out some pet shop tales since 1845

Trade Names: Four generations of the same family have run a pet shop business for nearly 160 years. Rose Doyle hears the family's remarkable story

Ferrets were big in the pet shops of Dublin in the early 1900s, brought in from England and sold in their hundreds to a populace keen on rabbit stew.

Monica Roden (nee King), third generation born and bred to the pet shop business, tells how it was with apologetic diffidence, protesting she doesn't "know why anyone would be interested".

She's retired, "technically", but still "giving a hand" to her son, Gerald (Gerry), in the Dublin Pet Stores at 118 Capel Street. We're surrounded by fish and aquariums as she tells her story, a fascinating glimpse into a corner of Dublin life chronicling the capital's move over 160 years from town to city more acutely than any sweeping overview. The fish are not unimportant.

Monica Roden's grandfather, living in Bride Street in the 1840s, started the original of the family pet shops. It grew out of his bird-keeping hobby, a passion shared with his Huguenot wife, a Bride Street neighbour with the lyrical family name of Silkweaver. King's Pet Shop opened at 82 Bride Street, not far from St Patrick's Cathedral, in 1845.

"His son, my father John King, married twice and I'm the youngest of his second family," Monica Roden explains, a family situation which has made her privy to first-hand accounts of times long past. "He had six or seven children in his first marriage and, when he and Mammy married, there were still three of them alive, one of them older even than my mother! My sister, June, and I were born of the second marriage."

John Roden moved with his first family to Capel Street in the early 1900s. "There wouldn't have been enough business in Bride Street for him to raise a family on so he had to get out," Monica says. Both shops had ads in The Freeman's Journal of 1903. From Bride Street grandfather King advised would-be customers that he had, "Ferrets, ferrets, 30 or 40 brace, full grown 5s each, not quite full, pair for 9s, old ones for 6s each, Goldfinches. Linnets wanted."

His son, John, in Capel Street, charged a bit more but ferrets were still at the top of his list. "Ferrets," ran the Capel Street ad, "100 yellows, Polecats 8s 10d pair, rabbit nets, best, 3s dozen, cock canaries, 4s each, Pigeons, Rabbits, Mice, Goldfish, wanted Goldfinches and linnets."

Monica Roden explains the ferrets: "They came in from England, we got them from a Mr Waghorn, a box of them every week. The countryside wasn't so far away from Dublin then and people used go out with the ferrets who would chase the rabbits out of their burrows and into the nets. Polecats were a kind of ferret. Everyone had pets in those days - nearly everyone kept a bird.

"All above us in this house was in tenements and they all kept birds - canaries and goldfinches mostly. Budgies are a comparatively modern bird. Pets and birds were a hobby with people. There was no television of course."

John King (known to all as Johnny) was 93 years old when he died in 1966. Customers who knew him still call to the shop, known as J King Pet Stores until the 1950s when Monica married and they changed the name to Dublin Pet Stores. John King had stories to tell and his daughter remembers.

"They kept geese and all kinds of birds in Bride Street and he had the job of looking after them when he was very young. Early in the morning, he would have to hoosh them into St Patrick's Park and, when a customer arrived, would have to get them back to the shop in case they ran away. Once, during the 1913 Lock Out, he passed a picket and went to the docks in his pony and cart to collect a delivery. He nearly ended up in the river. He was a placid man who didn't see any harm in anything."

Monica Roden grew up in Capel Street, living with her sister and parents in rooms behind the shop. The stock was different then and the shop only about one-third the size it is now, mostly taken up with birds and bird cages. Monica remembers the second World War years too. German POWs coming to the shop when on day release from the Curragh, and one in particular.

"They used buy rabbits for cooking purposes and cure the skin and use the leather to make sandals. I was about 14 at the time and one of them made me a pair of gorgeous sandals. I loved those sandals, had them for years. They were lovely men. Daddy used talk to them for ages; there was only one man he didn't take to, I don't know why. Business wasn't good during the war years and Daddy had to go out to work while Mammy kept the shop ticking over."

When Monica married Gerald Roden in the early 1950s, she and her sister, June, took over the running of the shop. In 1953 Gerald Roden bought 118 and 119 Capel Street and, in time, June King moved to live in Galway. Gerald Roden died 15 years ago and nine years ago the family sold both buildings but retained the original shop.

The 1950s were busy years in the pet shop business. "People wanted all sorts then - pets, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs. All children had pets in those days."

These days it's fish which arrive weekly form England, in warm containers. "The modern child isn't interested in pets," Monica says, "they've a very short attention span, losing interest two weeks after they get a pet. No one wants the bother and work involved with a pet, so aquariums and fish have become popular. They're low maintenance for working parents and are decorative, a piece of furniture in themselves."

The pet shop business had a good 1960s and 1970s. Gerry Roden came into the business in 1976. He likes animals, and admits he wouldn't want to do anything else but run the family pet shop.

"Fish aquariums are really popular," he confirms. "Kids aren't really interested in birds and rabbits anymore. People like tropical fish mostly and most tanks have a filter system which means you need only do a thorough clean out once a year. The 1980s and the recession weren't good for business but even then, though people weren't buying pets, they had to feed the ones they had! I like people coming in with their problems, helping them rectify things with their fish."

Fact: Dublin pet shops never seriously sold kittens and pups. "It was never a tradition," Monica says, "never encouraged because of the impulse buying involved. People see a puppy, buy a ball of fluff and are tired of it in two weeks. It's just been made illegal in England to sell puppies to children under 16 unless they're accompanied by an adult. I think it'll become law here eventually."

Gerry Roden has an aquarium of his own at home, a large one in which he keeps Discus, exotic fish which grow as big as your hand. He has a Maltese Terrier too. He doesn't see the business returning to an emphasis on pets. "It'll be fish from now on," he says, "I can't see anything changing there. We'll be selling everything connected to fish, and of course food and other pet needs too."

With a fifth generation growing up fast, the future of the Dublin Pet Stores is looking assured. "I've a great grand son too," Monica says, not without pride - not either that there's any sign of her "technical" retirement ending any day soon.