Established by Charles Garavan Snr in 1937 it was originally
a Spirit Grocery, which combined a public house with a
grocery shop, serving the people of the city. Garavans are
proud to be one of the few Galway families still trading on
the city’s main thoroughfare.
VIVO was the name of an Irish grocery brand from the
1960s, but, given their thriving wholesale and grocery
business, both Garavan’s staff and customers
claimed it meant ‘Van In, Van Out’, as deliveries with
our vans took place all day!!
The legendary Bar Man, who possessed
‘unfailing good humour and a lively wit’ and was
a lover of Shakespeare, Dickens, The Irish Times
and opera, elevated the pub to that of a forum
for debate and discourse, and captivated
visiting patrons from all over the world. His
‘Superlative’ pint of Guinness and learned
pontifications inspired journalist and friend Jeff
O’Connell to write a hugely popular weekly
column in The Galway Advertiser, and a
subsequent bestselling book of the same title,
Days and Nights in Garavan’s.
After supplying tea wholesale, Garavans decided to develop their own range of individually packed tea. It was an extremely popular tea at the time and an entire generation of Galwegians began their day with a cup of Garavan’s famous tea and finished it off in Garavan’s pub with a creamy pint of Guinness or accompanied by a few Irish Whiskeys.
