IAN MOLLOY profiles J. J. Kavanagh, one of Ireland’s oldest and largest independent coach and bus operators, a family business that also has a subsidiary on the outer edge of Greater London
With around 70 vehicles in its home country and another 60 with its subsidiary company in England, J. J. Kavanagh & Sons is one of the largest privately owned coach and bus operators in Ireland, still wholly owned by the founding family.
It also is one of the oldest, and remains based in the town of Urlingford in Co. Kilkenny, 80miles south-west of Dublin where James and Mollie Kavanagh established it nearly 102 years ago in 1919 when Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom.
Back then, it confined itself to the immediate area and the first route linked Urlingford with Kilkenny city around 18miles away. There were two round trips on Mondays to Saturdays, with an excursion provided on Sundays. That route continues today — still two round trips every day except Sunday — with Transport for Ireland service number 871.
Gradually, areas served were expanded throughout and beyond Co. Kilkenny and south Leinster and into the neighbouring Munster counties of Tipperary, Waterford and Limerick.
A moderate pace of gr…
