RESTAURANTS AND FOOD: All the good stuff at Pop Crowley’s, Fancy Goods and Grocer, in Macroom.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

All the good stuff at Pop Crowley’s, Fancy Goods and Grocer, in Macroom.

All the good stuff at Pop Crowley’s. Fancy Goods and Grocer, in Macroom.

In Pop Crowley’s, the one-year-old grocery in Macroom, the customers tend to shop small and support local producers.

Jack Buckley is the man behind the 2024 venture, and his wife, Carmel, is the woman. So where did the Crowley come from? Well, Jack’s grandfather, Pop Crowley, had a shop in Killarney in the 1950s, and the Macroom shop is named in his honour. Even the shop itself is a tribute to the business that preceded it on the town centre site. Twohig’s hardware store had a long tradition here, and here’s hoping that Pop Crowley’s will continue over the coming decades.

The motto here is

“all the good stuff”. And Pop has certainly got quite a selection of the really excellent local produce. Going through the shelves, it’s like reading a list of the top producers of recent years, such as Rosscarberry Recipes, Caherbeg Pork and Jack McCarthy’s famous black pudding. I’ve just had a tasty lunchtime snack at home featuring the Caherbeg sausages and McCarthy’s black pudding that I bought on last week's visit to the new grocer.

Are we heading into the future by going back to the past, when shopping was daily and the customer knew where everything came from? It is a lot like that here in Pop Crowley’s. It reminds me hugely of another young grocery, the fabulous Alice Coyle’s in the centre of Clifden.

Some of the Good Stuff

They even use the same coffee, Calendar from Ougtherard! Jack, though, does most of his own baking, everything from lovely baps to sourdough loaves, and they were enjoyed during our on-site lunch during the visit.

My toastie, on the sourdough, was packed with the delightful flavours of both McCarthy’s spiced beef and that superb Cashel Cheddar. CL meanwhile was enjoying her soft bap, packed with cheese and Caherbeg ham and a gorgeous apple relish. Two bottles of the renowned apple juice from Con Traas’s Apple Farm in Cahir accompanied our bap and toastie. We sat at one of the little counters, one of the corners where you can eat here.

Of course, while you are eating, you can check out the nearby produce and before we were finished we added a square of that Cashel cheese and a wedge of the Toons Bridge Buffalo Cheddar (with its amazing white colour) to our bag.

There were other local cheeses available and also apples and jams from Con Traas, that black pudding from Kanturk, eggs from Whitechurch and Joe’s Farm Crisps from Killeagh. And there’s more, including East Cork potatoes, fruit in season (strawberries from Bushby’s of West Cork, for example), and milk from Gloun Cross.

Lunchtime snack with McCarthy Black Pudding
and Caherbeg Sausages

Looking for something sweet? No shortage of pastries here; there are daily bakes of pastry, buns, cookies and cakes. Quite a selection of chocolates also, including those from the well-established Skelligs in Kerry and the newly established Second Street in Carrigaline.

And another well-known local producer gets pride of place here: the iconic Macroom Oatmeal and Macroom Wholewheat Flour from Walton's Mill in nearby Masseytown, where the grain is milled in the slow, age-old, traditional method.

Jack says: “The flour, Irish dillisk seaweed and treacle are the key ingredients in our ever-popular daily brown soda breads. Both Macroom products are available for sale in the shop, of course (with tips on how to make the best Macroom oatmeal porridge!”

Buffalo Cheddar

There's plenty to keep you going, and if you want to put a meal together yourself, Jack has lots of ingredients and, as a former chef, is well-equipped to offer you hints and any advice you need. Would you like a bottle of wine with that meal? You can get it here, where Le Caveau and Vinostito supply wines (mostly organic) from small independent producers.

And if you’d like to know a little more about wine, then watch out for tastings at Pops. But do book as soon as the dates are published. Last weekend’s one sold out quickly!

With all my concentration on the foodstuffs, I forgot to check out the smaller fancy goods selection, though some gorgeous pottery by Fiachra Crowley from Kenmare did catch my eye.

Nearby in Macroom