Conversations With… Colm Broderick

Step inside Brodericks in Omagh and you’ll discover far more than a much-loved local bar.

For Colm Broderick, this third-generation family business is woven into the fabric of the town, reflecting a deep-rooted pride in its people, its heritage and its future, alongside a genuine passion for championing Omagh and The Sperrins as a destination where visitors can feel truly welcome.

Brodericks has been part of life in Omagh for over 80 years, tell us a little about the history of the pub and what it means to your family?

Colm: It’s been a part of our family for almost 90 years now, and we’ve started planning for 2027 as that’s when we’ll hit 90.

It started with my grandfather Jack Broderick, he was a barman in the County Bar on High Street. No. 23 Georges Street became available for sale when the Bar was called Matthews’ owned by a Mrs Bailey. He bought it over in 1937 and had a grand opening in October of that year. Over the course of his lifetime he extended, grew and modernised it, into Nos 21 and then No. 19 Georges Street. Even through the war years when there was rationing – no beer, nothing to sell, there were still customers. It was a meeting place, people would come in and chat just for company.

My father took over after my grandfather died suddenly at the age of 62, in February 1972. He had a massive heart attack just over by the Sacred Heart Church on his way to Sunday Mass. The seventies were difficult years for this establishment and the Broderick family, in fact the anniversary has just passed, where Peter Flanagan was shot dead here in August 1974. He was a serving Special Branch police inspector. It was a difficult time!

My grandmother had a business – the Melville Hotel just down the street. No. 4 High Street. That was a very good business back in the 70s where they got their custom from visiting sales representatives. My grandmother actually was going to be the heir of a milling company that her father had but she didn’t want that, so she went off to Derry to work in a group of hotels. Her father was sadly knocked down and killed on the Clanabogan line so she came home and then worked in the Melville in Omagh. Over time she ended up running it and eventually owning it, expanding into the old Police Station at No.2 High Street.! My uncle now deceased became a bit of an entrepreneur and between the two of them they had a hairdressing salon, a swimming pool and a solarium, all down on High Street. With the troubles and with Town Centres being closed off, sadly the hotel is no longer! That’s a whole story in itself.

As I said the seventies were difficult, this bar was bombed in December 1972, so it was more or less demolished. Thankfully no one was injured as they got everyone out. It’s unfortunate, as any memento that we had was lost. Photographs, mementos, things that he had of my grandfathers were all lost, destroyed as he lived upstairs.

So anyway moving on through the years my father retired, when the smoking ban came in 2007 – he didn’t want to see it. He didn’t smoke himself but he seen the regular customers coming in and it was part of their experience. He didn’t want to be stopping them, so that was it, it was time to go. I had been managing the bar from I graduated in 2001, taking on more responsibility as the years went on, so in 2007 I took it over.

There’s a lot of history here, without a doubt, we are third generation, and the oldest family run bar in the town.

Colm, what do you think has kept Brodericks going and allowed it to remain a much loved part of Omagh over the years?

Well it’s the personal touch, you know we’ve always been renowned for customer service, hospitality, the personal touch, and people appreciate that. People coming in who you know by name, you can near have their drink poured before they sit down. You know them and that’s what people like, appreciate and want. They know they’re coming into a nice clean fresh good run establishment. There’s no bother, no hassle and a warm welcome.

We pause our interview here as Aidan, one of Colm’s regulars has landed in. Colm pops up and away behind the bar to sort Aidan. When we arrived to meet Colm he was actually sitting down with a couple who had just arrived in. They were Scottish, over for a break and were making their way to Donegal when they popped in for a drink.  After a wee chat and getting Aidan a drink Colm returns to our conversation.

While we were waiting on Colm we noticed a framed newspaper cutting with a story about “The Diamond Bar” and outside there was mention of it too, we’re a bit curious and have to ask…

Was the pub once known as the Diamond Bar Colm?

How do you know that he replies, “we seen it on the sign outside and spotted it on the framed newspaper cutting on the wall”

My grandfather put the name ‘The Diamond Bar’ on it and put that neon sign up a good 60 years ago. But nobody knew it as the Diamond Bar, it was always just known as Brodericks. Colm shows us a photo, from many years ago, his father is in the photo, a striking resemblance to Colm. The reason it was called the Diamond was due to the location, from an aerial perspective where Church Street, meets Castle Street meets Georges Street forms a Diamond shape.

Again Colm is called away, this time to the off licence. We notice little hooks on the wall beside each table as well as a bell. The hooks are thoughtfully located to allow customers to hang their coats, and the bell gives you a direct link to the bar for table service.

So you’ve been named Tyrone Pub of The Year at the recent Restaurant Awards Colm, a huge achievement:

Aye that was great, Nigel Doherty who works here came with me to Armagh for it. We took the day off and headed off. I knew we were nominated but there was never any expectation of winning whatsoever. I thought ‘I’d never get that’, then low and behold we did! I joked ‘right Nigel I’m not going up on that stage on my own you’re coming with me take your coat off’!

We were put forward to the All-Ireland Final which was a gala event in Dublin in May, so I invited all the staff! A carload of us went down and again no I had no expectation – the bar that won it was the Cobblestone in Dublin. It was a great experience.

We were delighted. We came back that evening with the certificate. Our Tuesday Night’s Quiz was on, and word got through to the folks in the pub. When we came in through the door there was a big round of applause! We went down to the stage and showed everyone the certificate and I said  “this is not just mine, that’s not what makes a pub, it’s the staff who work here and more importantly its you the customer, without customers there is no pub.”

Colm you’re mentioned your staff numerous times, what does your staff mean to you and the success of Brodericks?

Nigel has been here for >20 years, he was a bartender long before that. He is one of the very few professional bar tenders there is and its characters like that that make a pub. It may be my surname above the door, but I cannot run this business single handed. We’ve a great team here and I’m very proud of everyone, they make Broderick’s the place it is.

And you mentioned the reaction of the customers when you came home after the awards, how important are those relationships with your customers and the wider community here?

Totally, it’s the customers that keep it all going – Without them there would be no bar.

Do you get many people calling in that aren’t regular customers Colm, we saw as we arrived the couple from Glasgow, is that a regular occurrence?

Yeah, I would see that. This is one of the main thoroughfares into Omagh, so if they’re coming off the A5 this is the main junction. It’s nice because a lot of the time people are at a bit of a loss, looking at Google Maps and wondering what direction to take – I always like to help. This is why I like to have the town map in behind the counter, a picture paints a thousand words. Whether its looking for their accommodation, somewhere to see or a place to eat I can always help. Customer service is key, treating people well, locals and visitors to the town, it’s what hospitality is all about.

Brodericks has the mix of traditional pub atmosphere, and you have your regular quizzes, music and events. How important is it to keep that sense of tradition while continuing to give people a reason to come through the doors?

So important, you know when I took this place over it was always perceived as what they call an old man’s bar. That was my father’s genre – the traditional older man, smoking at the counter, with a bottle of stout and a half one of Whiskey.

I can’t remember the last time that I sold a bottle of stout. That generation has moved on – you need to look ahead and look to the future. With the introduction of live music, my father never had live music, this lounge room here there was never a TV down here. What people want now is quizzes, live music, sport. Back in the day people would have started their night off here, few drinks, but then always went to other places for entertainment. It was a natural progression, we needed to get our entertainment licence, upgrade the premises and then apply for the later licence. It’s an investment, it has paid off and it works. Music is big, this town back in the day you could have had music 7 days a week at different venues.

What role do you think pubs like Brodericks play in creating atmosphere and encouraging people to spend time in Omagh town centre?

If locals and visitors are shown good hospitality they’ll share their good experience with friends, neighbours and family. Omagh has an excellent musical heritage and talent. Live music and good events bring people in. I’ve seen a trend now – people come out earlier and go home earlier so because of this, I start the music a bit earlier now. Omagh has an excellent hospitality offering. Something for everyone.

Where do you tell visitors is a must see and not to be missed when they visit the area?

If I have visitors in and I know there’s an event on I’ll ask if they’re here for it, for example the Bluegrass Festival. There’s plenty to do and see, The Strule Arts Centre, Folk Park, Abingdon Collection, Gortin Glens, and then there’s the places to eat and shop, it’s a great wee town to spend a day or two.

We are located, just behind the courthouse, in the heart of the Churches Area and often would see people out front take photos of the Spires of the Sacred Heart Church. I would love to see the development of a walking tour to include inside tours of all the historic buildings and expanded to the Gaol Square at the bottom of Castle Street.

There is a move to develop the site of the former St Lucia Barracks nearby. It has a huge potential to draw investment, jobs and tourism opportunities to the town.

Colm is called away and when he returns, he’s holding a picture.

I Googled Broderick’s Bar and it transpires there’s a Brodericks Bar in St. George’s, Newfoundland, Canada. This area would be comparable to Temple Bar in Dublin, or Cathedral quarter in Belfast. They have a music venue, and it’s also located on a street named Georges Street! Same as us! If you look at their logo its actually very similar. I contacted them online just to say we’re Brodericks Bar too and also on George’s Street. They then sent over this shirt (Colm shows us a shirt branded with Brodericks Bar) and low and behold the branding/logo are so very similar.

I went and got our logo and all printed on a shirt and sent it over to them. So they have our shirt on their wall, and we have there’s on ours! Caityln and William stopped by enroute to Letterkenny. They came to Omagh and stopped off here. I took them down to Rue for a bite to eat and Charlie McBride gave us a tour through the venue and they loved it where we chatted about business, trends and licencing differences between here and Canada.

Over the Summer, I was sitting in the hospital with my father and I got a message from Caityln, “Are ye about, I’ve brought my Mum and Dad over”, they were in Omagh and sitting down in that corner, I couldn’t leave my father so I rang Nigel and told him to get the family a drink, I apologised I couldn’t be there. I’m sorry I was not able to meet him as Caityln’s Dad, D’arcy is a renowned Newfoundland Musician who plays fiddle accordion, banjo and guitar.

I haven’t been to Canada yet but I have to go at some stage to visit Newfoundland, Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Nigel’s Brother owns a Bar called the Old Triangle, and also Ottawa where the gentleman in that photo in the bottom left-hand corner of that cabinet, he is originally from Omagh, by the name of Larry Bradley. He went to Ottawa and he has bars in the Irish Village called the Heart and Crown. When he was alive, he visited frequently. That’s his Whiskey there, he has his own Whiskey, Named Bradleys, distilled in Ireland, bottled in Canada. His cousin helps me out at the weekends, does a few hours, called Mickey.

Beside it is a bottle of Island Man whiskey, a special first-edition release from Wild Atlantic Distillery, just 20 minutes up the road. The team has ambitious plans to open a purpose-built visitor centre, and I wish them every success.

Colm then goes on to show us his High Street Hero award and tells us a funny story – when I was promoting this initiative for Retail N.I, I was promoting Omagh for a High Street award for best High Street, Omagh has a great town with a lot of independently owned shops with lower that average empty units compared to other towns. Anyways people thought I was going for it and they were nominating me and they voted for us! Then we won it! It was because the Bar couldn’t open during the pandemic myself and Nigel kept the off-licence open for a few hours every day.  We have a good laugh about this.

We then have a chat about “The Spin Movie”. A multi-award-winning independent comedy drama who stars include Derry Girl’s Tara Lynne O’Neill and former Love Islander Maura Higgins. Colm asks if we have watched it and if we have watched it to the end, which we tell him we have, however we missed something, him! Colm appeared in the movie – he shows us the call sheet where his name is listed, which means we now have to go rewatch it!

We asked how he ended up getting a role:

When I was chair of Omagh Chamber of Commerce, producer Dr Eddie McCaffrey, an Omagh native, and local musician Mark McCausland, also known as McKowski, approached me for support from town-centre businesses to help make the film.

The script was written by New York author and Beragh native Colin Broderick (no relation) and was based on an idea by Mark. We had a chat about The Spin and how to bring it to life.

Many people across Omagh played a part in making the project happen.

The movie was filmed in and around the Omagh area in September 2023. The crew were impressed not only by the area’s natural beauty but also by its potential as a filming location. They said they would return and promote the district to other filmmakers. The Chamber believed this could bring significant economic benefits through film production and increased tourism.

You can watch The Spin on BBC iPlayer and to purchase on Amazon Prime Video.  Make sure to keep your eye out for Colm!!

As our conversation draws to a close, Colm returns to where he is happiest… behind the bar at Brodericks. We’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Colm for taking the time to share his stories with us and for the genuinely warm welcome we received. Brodericks is a beautiful bar, full of character, history and charm, and we’ve no doubt it won’t be long before we return for another visit! Colm’s passion for his hometown, his community and championing Omagh and The Sperrins as a destination is truly infectious, reminding us that it’s the people who make a place special and give visitors every reason to come, stay a little longer and return again.