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Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:47 pm
by Kirsty
Does anyone know anything about Henry Healy. Was it one man??


Kirsty

PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 1:50 am
by crusty_bint
I asked my grannie the very same question once!

If I remember correctly Henry Healy was a grocer and started out with a shop in Dundas St. I think he was in parnership with his brother?

I'll ask my gran next time I see her



...at her next birthday :oops:

PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 11:51 am
by escotregen
Henry Healey was a fairly extensive chain of traditional high street food shops. Based mostly around Glasgow, they had a presence in just about every locality (Govan, Rutherglen, Maryhill etc). The Healey chain, like many other smaller retailers, was hit badly by the growth of supermarkets. Some of the other chains like Joseph Cassidy's just vanished. Healy did some nifty commercial footwork, closing many branches (alas including our local in Burnside) but converting many others into fast foo sandwich take away outlets like the ones in Millers Lane and just off St Enoch Square. At one time there was a whole hierarchy of these chains; Healey was sort of cheap-but-ok-quality, specialising in fresh bacon, cheese etc. Others like Templetons were usually bigger shops and better quality but maybe more expensive. Some of the Templeton shop shells are still around; good quality well designed standardised red sandstome units (one example remains adjacent to the Tollcross Road/Wellshot Road junction.I think it was either the Templeton or Masseys (spelling?) chain that was taken over by the eventual big time entrepreneur Gulliver who used it to build the Presto chain of supermarkets. He then used this base to buy over Safeway from the Americans... eventually he game to a sad end in the brutal world of take-overs and acquisitions.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 3:16 pm
by Kirsty
Thanks for that. One of those things I always wondered :?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:13 pm
by Margaret
I found this topic as I was browsing in the past.
If you are still interested Henry Healy was indeed one man. The business is still family run. I am sure the family still live in the southside of Glasgow

My great grandfather had this type of shop in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

(He sold out to either Henry Healy or Curley's)

These shops were sometimes known as Ham & Egg shops, most of them were run by Irish immigrants who still had contacts in Ireland and brought the ham & eggs over from Ireland, sometimes travelling over themselves to pick up the stock.

My g.grandfather's brother allegedly made a lot of money from this business because he invented a packaging for eggs. They opened their shops in Edinburgh in the 1890's then in Glasgow between 1901 and 1910

PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:09 pm
by ramor69
OMG!!! 8O
What a coincidence. The first girl I ever really fancied
worked in Henry Healys under the Umbrella, I've seen
her a few times since then but guess what? I bumped
into her yesterday, (literally). TBH I was pretty well
lost for words, (makes a change for me). :oops:

Anyways my old granny always used Healys across
from the Eye Infirmary, (can't remember the name of
the street it was on). She always said that's where the
spam valley crowd got their meat. :wink:

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:53 pm
by Mori
BBC

City sandwich chain stops trading

Nearly 30 people have lost their jobs following the closure of Glasgow sandwich bar chain Henry Healy.

The six-strong chain, one of the city's oldest family-run sandwich bars, shut its doors for the last time on Friday, with all 27 staff being made redundant.

The managing director is Henry Healy, grandson of the founder who established the chain in 1913.

Scott McGregor and Ken Pattullo of Begbies Traynor have been appointed as joint liquidators.

Mr McGregor said: "It's very sad to see the demise of such a long established family business but unfortunately it had suffered a downturn in the face of competition from national chains coupled with the impact of the recession."

The six sandwich bars were located in Hope Street, Queen Street, Howard Street, Mitchell Street, Stockwell Street and Sauchiehall Street.

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:04 pm
by crazygray23
:( thats shit for all the staff ,used to nick into the st enochs one for my brekkie before work

always thought these small sandwich shops did good business too most i know are always busy

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:31 pm
by Charlie Endell
Staff hygiene never seemed top priority. I remember going to the one in Mitchell Lane one lunchtime to buy pie, chips and beans - after putting the nosh in the microwave the lassie then proceeded to clean her fingers by sucking them before taking the heated grub back out!! Mind you, a guy in my work said he would have paid extra for that.

The baldy guy with the long fingernails always put me off using the one that used to be in Argyle St. (at the corner with York St.).

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:29 pm
by oldphilosophy
When I was 16yrs, I worked in the Possil one, it was bad. The manager was disgusting and one time he came out the toilet, didn't wash his hands and then started washing ham haughs in a big sink because they had started stinking. I kid you not. Later that day he told all the workers who were all very young, that we had to buy the 'special' cakes as we had not pushed them hard enough. If we didn't buy them, we were not getting paid. It was the end of the day and I refused to buy them and wasn't paid. My mum took me down the next day it was open and got my wages, I didnt go back.

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:33 pm
by My Kitten
aye healys was always a bit grim, I think I purchased something twice out of them.

Sad to see a piece of history go, but greggs etc are skelping their asses.

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:39 pm
by oldphilosophy
Have you ever saw a Greggs without a queue?

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:45 pm
by tobester
oldphilosophy wrote:Have you ever saw a Greggs without a queue?


Best answer to that is...yeah when its closed.

My mum and dad used to take me and my sister to the one under the umbrella, on a sat morning as a treat.

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:59 pm
by harebo
Just found out today about Henry Healy's closing. Bit of a shock considering my dad is Henry Healy!

Prepared a little blog tribute to our clan's lunchtime institution: http://hbom.livejournal.com/2009/10/17/

- HH4

Re: Henry Healy's

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 8:38 pm
by oldphilosophy
Your old man should have sacked Billy from the Possil shop ;)

I remeber a great thing about Henry Healys. The butter, I had to use 2 wooden spatulas and pull out a big dollup, put onto greaseproof paper and weight it. Then I had to pat it into a block, it was fun and I loved folk ordering butter, salted and unsalted.