TradeNames:McGrory's of Culdaff in Donegal turned to music in the 1980s when times were tough and the business has been hitting the right notes since then, writes Rose Doyle

Malin Head might be the best known landmark on the Inishowen peninsula but McGrory's of Culdaff and Mac's Backroom come a close second. It could be argued, easily, that more people travel to Inishowen to hear good music in the Backroom than to experience the savage grandeur of the Head.

The McGrorys have been a part of the peninsula's landscape for generations, there before the family shop, from which grew today's bars, hotel and restaurant, opened in 1924.

The peninsula's unique place in history and circumstance are a large part of the how and why of the growth of the McGrory's business and popularity. "There are two histories of Ireland," Neil McGrory says, and he's only half joking. The economic history of Inishowen, certainly, is more linked to nearby Scotland than elsewhere in Ireland and a troubled Northern Ireland had more serious knock-on effects too.

And, of course and always, there has been the wild and wonderful Atlantic beauty of the place drawing people to Culdaff.

Neil McGrory, one of the third generation of McGrory's running things, has got the family/Donegal energy, hard-working zeal, musical talent and fearless way of moving forward. He tells the story.

"My grandparents, Minnie and John McGrory, returned to Donegal from Belfast in 1924. My grandfather, who was originally from Fanad, had been an RIC policeman but left the service. They returned in what were turbulent times, bought a house in Culdaff and opened a hardware/drapery shop."

Culdaff was a small village but as the site of an early Christian/Columban monastery had been on the historical map before Minnie and John McGrory arrived. The mid-1920s, Neil McGrory says, were tough times in Culdaff.

"The depression was on the way but my grandmother was a good dressmaker, read lots of fashion magazines, copied the styles and made coats and dresses. They built up the business and expanded until they were running a general store, the sort of place that sold everything from funeral shrouds to bikes to tobacco."

Minnie and John McGrory had three children. Their first-born was a girl, Mary, their second a son, John Joe, and third another girl, Bernadette. "All of them spent time in the business," Neil says. "Then Mary and Bernadette moved to Bray, Co Wicklow, and opened B&Bs on the esplanade. John Joe was given the reins of the business when he was 21."

In John Joe McGrory's time in the business there lies a tale of Inishowen's unique economic advantages.

"The second World War, or the Emergency as it was called, turned out to be a boom time for Inishowen," says Neil. "The British and US fleets, and navy and air base facilities, were based around Lough Foyle and Derry. Though Inishowen was technically neutral this offered huge opportunities for expanding trade. The peninsula developed an extensive trade with the military people which led to a general boom in the area over the period."

By the late 1940s McGrory's business had grown enough to expand into the guesthouse business.

"There were a lot of holidaymakers coming to the peninsula; factory workers from Scotland, workers from the Clyde shipyards, others from Northern Ireland and Donegal itself. Inishowen was the Costa del Sol of the 1950s for Scotland, which is only 40 miles away. Boats used leave Derry with live cattle for Scotland and come back filled with people! They came on ordinary passenger boats too. Nearly every house in the village of Culdaff became a B&B for the summer."

All of this brought economic growth and, Neil says, "left a mark on the area. Some of the visitors stayed on and married here, people from Inishowen went to live in Scotland with spouses." John Joe McGrory married Deirdre Doherty from Glenties in 1954. They had eight children.

"My mother trained as a domestic science teacher in Scotland," Neil continues, "so she had skills and was a big influence on my father moving towards the hotel and hospitality side of the business."

There was a bit or synchronisty in this too: the shopping scene was changing, supermarkets the coming thing.

"The shop began to decline but they continued expanding the hotel during the 1960s and early 1970s. They were both musical and they performed in the bar. My father played the accordion, piano, fiddle and mandolin, my mother sang light opera - she'd almost gone for a career in singing, in fact. So, while Donegal was developing its tourism, my parents were developing the leisure and entertainment side of things in Culdaff."

History intervened, again. "The Troubles started in 1969 and within a year the entire economy of Inishowen went into decline. People stopped coming from Northern Ireland, and so did people from Scotland. Inishowen was in serious decline for most of the 1970s and 1980s. They were harsh economic times and everything suffered."

So bad that in 1987/88 the business was put up for sale and almost left McGrory hands. John Joe and Deirdre McGrory were getting older, things were a lot harder and enthusiasm had waned. Both continued involved, however, until Deirdre McGrory's death in 1996 and John Joe McGrory's in the early 2000s.

Family genes and another burst of synchronisty intervened in the worrying times of 1987/88.

"Myself and John were involved in music," Neil explains. "I'd studied communications and was happily pursuing a career on the periphery of the film and music industry in Dublin. I'm a sound man and play bass guitar, John plays the guitar and has recording studio experience. But everything was depressed, Dublin was depressed. So, like most of my generation, I decided to go away. Only first I took a detour home . . ."

The business wasn't selling. Anne had been working consistently to keep things going and the rest of the siblings, Mary (Anne's twin), Deirdre, Kathleen, Imelda and Susan, after working for periods in the business, had moved to lives in such as teaching, research and interior design.

Anne McGrory and brothers Neil and John had a rethink.

"We withdrew the property from the market and decided to reactivate things. John and myself pooled our music experience and made a recording studio part of the business. We recorded a lot of Donegal acts, and people like Brian Kennedy, and did well for three to four years. It helped us make contacts and establish good relations with promoters and agents in Ireland and abroad and we began to run gigs."

By 1992 they had firmly established what quickly became a very popular live music venue in the one-time function room.

"Altan was one of our early acts. We'd groups like the Fleadh Cowboys, Frankie Lane, Goats Don't Shave. By 1993 it was looking good so we decided to build a proper music venue using the old outhouses, exposing existing stone walls and putting in pine beams salvaged from the old US Navy docks on the River Foyle. We had the first custom-built venue in Donegal and one of the first in the whole country."

Performers like Townes Van Zandt, Paul Brady, Mary Black, Frankie Gavin, Maria Muldaur, Sharon Shannon and Ron Sexsmith - as well as younger, emerging bands - all helped build Mac's Backroom's reputation.

"We looked then to upgrading the accommodation. Anne's very deeply involved with the food and accommodation side of things. We renovated the front bar, added a restaurant and upgraded the accommodation. It's been in the Bridgestone Guide two years running. The restaurant opened in 1999. We went on expanding and now we've 17 bedrooms.

"Food is one of mainstays of the business and we use local suppliers, good sea food, good lamb, good beef. There's a fine organic network emerging locally that we use as well."

Too soon yet to tell who in the next generation will move into the business - Neil's daughters are Deirdre (8) and Ella (6). Anne's daughters are older and have moved on, for now. All's well and more than thriving for the McGrory dynasty of Inishowen.