Phone (042) 966 1604
Three generations renowned for superior fresh food and traditional customer service.
1925...
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With a loan from his father, along with a small loan from the bank, Michael Ward Senior purchased a butcher shop & dwelling house located at 1 Monaghan Street, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. Michael Sr. his wife, Ellen, raised a family of 11 alongside running a successful butchering business. All but one son took after their father, and trained to be butchers as their chosen profession.
1970's...
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Michael Ward Junior took over the reins of his father in the early 1970s, and further developed the business to be one of the most prominent retail & wholesale butchers on the island of Ireland. At their height, Michael Ward Jr. & his brothers were delivering from Malin head to Mizen head, and everywhere in-between.
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In the early 2000’s, new EU legislation was introduced which made it difficult to operate such a large-scale operation from relatively small, urban abattoir. Therefore, Michael Jr. decided to downscale the operations of the butcher shop, and branch out into different ventures.
2007...
Michaels first project, along with his wife Mary, was to develop what was Michaels original home (located and the floor above the butcher shop), into a restaurant. First opening in 2007 Michael & Mary ran a very successful restaurant for a number of years. Michael worked 8am to 6pm in the butcher shop, before beginning work in the restaurant at 7pm until closing at midnight. This was only feasible for a short while however. The restaurant was eventually sublet to a third party in 2011.
Introducing Sourdough & more
While Michael & Mary were running the restaurant, their eldest child, Anne Marie was training to be a baker. After achieving her degree in DIT Cathal Brugha Street, Annemarie moved to Cork where she trained under master baker Declan Ryan, specialising in sourdough production. Following this, Annemarie also trained as a chocolatier in Germany, and worked with Tartain bakery in Dublin, as well as Avoca Rathcoole.
2013...
In early 2013, work began to convert the butcher shop in order to accommodate a bakery, and on November 1st 2013 Matilda’s doors were opened once again as a joint butchers & bakery. With overwhelming success, September 2014 saw the butchers counter removed from the shop in order to increase the space for the bakery & to introduce a café to the premises. At the same time, Michaels youngest child, Stephen, had graduated from college and joined the family business as front of house, while Annemarie focused on the kitchen & back of house operations.
2021...
Year on year, Matilda’s has continued to develop and expand both the quality, and range of products available to our customers. With a particular focus on genuine, handcrafted, sourdough production, Matilda’s also offers traditional breads such as brown wheaten (grannies' recipe), 100% spelt brown loaves, stout & treacle loaves, country cobs, and batch loaves. In addition to breads, we also have a large range of pastries available on a daily basis; including frangipane tartlets, Belgian chocolate tarts, gateaux’s, muffins, cookies, fresh cream buns, cupcakes, traybakes, protein bites, desserts, tarts, loaves, etc.
And the story continues to this day...