A coffee enthusiast from Co Tyrone has realised his dream of opening up a drive thru coffee shop at the site of a disused boxing club.
Brendan Quinn, from Derrylaughan, opened Uppercut Coffee on the site of the former Clonoe Boxing Club outside Coalisland in the run up to Christmas.
Brendan said he wanted to pay tribute to the history of the boxing club, and combine that with his passion for brewing coffee.
“I wanted to bring something back to my local town, this is Coalisland, the nearest town to where I live,” Brendan told MyTyrone.
“I thought the town was thriving at the moment and it could do with a good coffee place for people to enjoy.
“Myself personally I always referred to it as the boxing club and I still do to this point.
“If an item of clothing, or item of machinery happens to be in the building we would always refer to it as being down in the boxing club.”
The club was first established in 1972 by the late local boxing coach Frankie Gervin, but has since moved to a new location in the town.
Brendan added: “The building itself has lay dormant for the last 12 or 13 years, it was something that I really wanted to bring back to the community.
“The boxing club served so many young and old people in the community here in Coalisland, so I wanted to give something back and hold on to that name, so people know that’s where it’s located.
“The majority of people here in Coalisland will know where the old boxing club was.”
Brendan said his passion for brewing started while he was living in Australia, and other foreign trips to coffee hotspots such as Honduras left him in no doubt the path he wanted to pursue.
A significant investment and a lot of hard work turned the dilapidated grounds of the boxing club into Uppercut.
“It started back as a pipe dream a number of years back. For whatever reason I always thought there was good potential in this property itself.
“I had a love for coffee for the past 10 years or so since my travels in Australia, and one thing led to another from enjoyment, to actually being interested in the study of coffee.
“First and foremost the plan is to make sure we can serve the best products that there is on the market in the country, that’s my ambition.
“At some stage maybe we will branch out to another couple, but at the minute I’m not going to do that until I know that this one can run perfectly.”
Video: Harry Bateman
