Big queues welcome arrival of new I ice cream parlour in Louth

There have been steady queues outside the Nugelato ice-cream parlour at 35 Clanbrassil Street since it opened last Thursday.

This is the first time that the family-owned ice-cream chain has opened an ice-cream parlour in the Republic of Ireland and Catriona Nugent says they are delighted to welcome many familiar faces who would have travelled to their Newry shop.

“This is a very big milestone for us. This marks store number eleven for us and it’s our first store in the South. We have a very good relationship with Dundalk because we’ve had so many customers who have been travelling to our Newry store for over nine years so even in the last few days they have come out in such strong numbers to support us and it’s been so lovely to serve them.”

Catriona and her husband Michael run the popular ice-cream chain which has its roots in the ice-cream parlour that his grandfather Jack Nugent opened in Newcastle, Co Down in 1930. Jack, who was the first non-Italian to perfect the art of ice-cream making in Ireland and the tradition of ice-cream making passed down through the family to Michael senior.

Having worked in the family business at the weekends and holidays, Michael junior was inspired by the ice-cream he tasted on holidays to Italy to do something different. He developed his own recipes and in 2015 opened the first Nugelato ice-cream boutique in Newcastle. It’s Nuggy Pot became an instant hit, allowing ice-cream lovers to create their own dessert.

The second Nugelato store opened in Newry in 2019 and since then they have opened stores in several other towns and cities including Belfast.

While the ice-cream is obviously the big attraction, they also sell churros, waffles, crepes and Dutch pancakes, Nuggy shakes, frappes and hot milkshakes, coffee and hot chocolate.

At the moment there are about ten staff working in the store at the moment and Catriona says they will probably hire a few more.

Opening the same week as The Rabbit Hole cafe and delicatessen a few doors away, these two new shops are bringing welcome footfall into this end of Clanbrassil Street. Parklets outside both shops are proving very popular with customers in the good weather.