Brian Boru Service Station in Tuamgraney, County Clare was named as Forecourt Retailer of the Year at the 2025 National Grocery Retail Awards. Grocery & Retail Ireland touched base with manager Mairead Dooley to find out more…
Celebrating the best of the best in retail and service, the 2025 National Grocery Retail Awards ceremony took place at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin on Tuesday afternoon, October 21st.
Amongst the big winners on the day was the brisk and busy Brian Boru Service Station in County Clare, which offers motorists and the local community a comprehensive range of services and amenities including Supermac’s restaurant and drive thru, Papa John’s Pizza, SuperSubs, Mac’s Place Deli, Spar convenience store, fuel via the Texaco fuel station, coffee, snacks, and much, much more besides.
The tenth member of the Plaza Group – one of Ireland’s leading independent motorway and primary route services groups – Brian Boru Service Station is the ideal place to refuel with its great selection of fast food outlets and other attractions, all served with a smile.
The business is very much engrained into the heart of the local community and this is one of the many reasons why manager Mairead Dooley was thrilled to learn that they had struck gold in the prestigious National Grocery Retail Awards:
“We are absolutely delighted and it is welcome recognition of all the hard work we do here to look after our customers and offer them the highest level of choice, service and value. Our area manager Gavin Moran put together the submission and he collected the award on our behalf. He’s absolutely brilliant.
“To pick up a national award is fantastic – a lovely surprise – and it’s all down to our wonderful team. Between the Supermac’s and Papa John’s takeaway and drive thru, Mac’s Deli, Supersubs, Spar and the filling station, we have a team of 40.
“They are the ones who ensure that we are constantly and consistently providing such a great service and it’s their efforts day in, day out that won us this award.”
The Forecourt Retailer of the Year award category is open to forecourt retailers of any size who provide excellent service to customers through their commitment to customer care, staff development and the provision of an appropriate range of services and facilities. Specific criteria in which Brian Boru Service Station excelled include operating a clean and well maintained forecourt and store area, welcoming and well-presented staff providing efficient service and outstanding retail display, with particular emphasis placed on food-to-go facilities in terms of choice, quality and value for money to suit customers at different times of day.
Brian Boru Service Station has been a remarkable success story since opening its doors to the public as part of the Plaza Group on July 19th, 2024, with group owner Pat McDonagh having taken over on the site of a previously-existing business that was forced to close down in a devastating blow to the local community and economy ten months earlier.
“We’re only new, really, and are still growing every week, which is fantastic,” Mairead continues. “We’re a very community-based business and a little different to most of the other plazas in the group in that respect. We’re 30 minutes away from the nearest motorway, so not as dependent on passing traffic, but still more than holding our own.”
An indication of the critical role Brian Boru Service Station plays at the epicentre of the community came in the wake of the destructive Storm Eowyn early in 2025. “After the storm, we were the only place open in the area for miles,” Mairead recalls. “People were coming here from all over to charge their phones, access the internet, get some food and a bit of heat into their bodies.
“That was a difficult time for a lot of people and they would have been lost without us. It goes without saying that as a community-focused business we were delighted to be able to provide that service to them at that time.”
The manager at Brian Boru Service Station can’t stress enough how instrumental the staff are to the day-to-day success and surging popularity of this busy and buzzing destination: “As I said, everything, including this award, is down to the team. It’s a team effort here and we are all like a little family. We all get on great and help and support one another in any way we can.
“The staff are all local. They know all the customers by name and they in turn know us by name.”
Looking to the future of Brian Boru Service Station, Mairead is confident that there is much more to come from this thriving, award-winning business: “It’s onwards and upwards and we are all very excited about the future. We’re looking forward to looking after our customers and continuing to give them a great service with a personal touch.
“We are literally only starting out on this journey and are at the centre of the community here and it’s all good. From a personal point of view, I couldn’t be happier with the wonderful team, the owners and the loyal and growing base of customers we have here.
“Personally, I was delighted to be able to open the place again after it closed a couple of years ago. I’ve worked here since I was 15 and it’s a home from home for me. It’s fantastic to see the new business growing and developing every week. It’s nice to play a small part in that, but none of it would be possible without the wonderful team at Brian Boru Service Station and the support of the local community.”
Brian Boru Service Station,
Drewsborough,
Tuamgraney,
County Clare.
Tel : 061 529359
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 5 No 1, Spring 2026
Brian Boru Service Station, featured
