Over the half-door in Memory Lane

George Warnock asked me to locate this picture for him, as he remembers working in the famous thatched cottage petrol station around 1961, writes Brian Byrne.

There will still be people who remember it, the Hideout Filling Station devised by my dad. It certainly attracted attention as motorists drove north and south from Dublin during that period before bypasses. It was interesting enough for Esso to feature it in an early Irish TV commercial.

My own memories of it, doing shifts for pocket money, was of an extraordinarily uncomfortable place to work in the winter, as the half-door didn’t help much in keeping out the elements.

It was later replaced with a much more modern, and mightily more worker-friendly kiosk. But it did kick off employment opportunities for many youngsters in the village.

This image is from the fine enlargement on the wall of Kilcullen Heritage Centre.