Shop owners with combined 128 years in business named joint Cork Person of the Year winners
Tony Linehan, Lord Mayor Cllr Deirdre Forde, Deputy Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr Deirdre O'Brien, Angela Cantwell, and Dan Linehan at the presentations at the Rochestown Park Hotel. Picture: Larry Cummins
The joint winners of the Cork Person of the Year Award are the owners of two ‘traditional shops’ that have withstood the test of time, clocking up a combined 128 years in business.
One lovingly described as the city’s own ‘Willy Wonka sweet factory’ has been in existence since 1928 and the other has been run by its owner for 33 years.
Tony Linehan of Shandon Sweets and Angela Cantwell of Angela’s Shop and Coffee Dock in Fountainstown were on Friday jointly crowned with the title for 2022.
The awards judges — the chief executives of Cork City Council, Ann Doherty, and Cork County Council, Tim Lucey — said they had been “struck by the perseverance, adaptability, and quality of these two businesses and their contribution to the fabric of Cork through the generations and that these two are some of the ingredients that make Cork so special and great".
Shandon Sweets, run by father and son Tony and Dan Linehan, is believed to be the last sweet factory of its type in the country.
The business, located in the Shandon Quarter, is both a factory and shop. Over the years, it has also become a tourist attraction, offering visitors the chance to see how the handmade sweets are produced using traditional methods as well as some of the original production machinery installed when it was opened 95 years ago.
The business survived a major fire some years ago and had to adapt to new online sales opportunities during the pandemic. It produces many mouth-watering favourites such as bullseyes, clove rock, pear drops, and butter nuggets.
Angela’s Shop & Coffee Dock in Fountainstown was the other winner. It is run by Angela Cantwell, who has won some accolades before, most notably when described in the by food columnist Derval O’Rourke as one of her favourite places to visit.
The shop has been a staple for visitors and locals alike, being somewhere people can buy anything they could possibly want such as fishing tackle, buckets and spades, ice cream, coffee, and scones.
Many visitors from as far away as Australia and New Zealand have make a point of making a beeline for the shop.
