THE Irish are well-known for a love of their culture – and this Leamington Spa woman is no different.
In fact, Liz Doherty-Houton’s pride in her Irishness is so deep that she has decided to open a shop to celebrate Irish culture and heritage.
‘A Little Bit of Irish’ is her new venture – a shop that stocks everything from Donegal tweed to Kimberley biscuits.
“About three years ago I started thinking about it,” explained Ms Doherty-Houton. “I began looking around and thinking about ways of presenting Irish culture.”
Eventually, she decided the perfect way to do this would be to open a shop dedicated to goods from Ireland for the Leamington Spa community.
Now into her third week of business, the Irishwoman has a steady flow of customers interested in her products.
Sourced from every corner of Ireland – from Sligo, to Carlow, to Wexford and further afield – A Little Bit of Irish stocks everything from Irish tweeds and laces to foods, birthday cards in the Irish language, and everything in between.
“It’s all about Irish arts and culture,” the shop owner said. “The Design and Craft Council of Ireland have helped me out with sourcing suppliers and things like that – basically, I want to sell Irish produce.”
Many Irish shops across Britain have been closing in recent years – but this does not phase the entrepreneur, who has her goal in mind with her new venture.
“We stock a bit of everything but what I’ve found best if listening to my customers,” she revealed. “They come in out of curiosity and see things they like and then ask if I have a particular thing they are looking for. If I don’t, I’ll look to stock it. It’s about presenting the Ireland of today mixed with nostalgia.”
Liz's shop stocks a bit of everything - all of her products are IrishBorn in Leamington Spa to Donegal parents, Ms Doherty-Houton grew up in the west midlands town before moving back to Ireland with her parents in 1982. Here, she lived for more than 30 years – marrying her husband, Kevin Houton, and welcoming a son, Cathal, and daughter, Edel.
Five years ago, the couple decided to return to Britain.
Leamington Spa has quite a big Irish community – which spells great news for A Little Bit of Irish.
“There’s an Irish club and I’m connected with them – I supply some food and things like that,” said Ms Doherty-Houton.
The nostalgic food stand is one of the many things that means there is never an idle day in A Little Bit of Irish.
“We’ve everything from Kimberley biscuits to Barry’s Tea, we’ve Irish chocolates, marmalades, porridges – all proper Irish foods,” explained Ms Doherty-Houton.
As with any new business owner, she is working very hard to get the shop off the ground – and has had a great response from her customers so far.
“You can spend as little as a fiver and up to £100 or more here so anyone can pick up something in the shop, as a present or for the house, whatever the case may be,” she said.
Based on the spa town’s Gloucester Street, A Little Bit of Irish is open Tuesday to Saturday until 5pm each day – and Ms Doherty-Houton will personally be on hand to help you with your shopping and tell you exactly where each product came from.
She may have left the hills of Donegal behind her but with A Little Bit of Irish, her native land is never far from Liz Doherty-Houton’s mind.
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