The recipe that made Clonakilty famous isn’t the Twomeys’ at all. In 1880 a local butcher, Philip Harrington, began selling black pudding from his shop on Pearse Street using a blend he’d inherited from a Clonakilty woman, Johanna O’Brien. The Harringtons guarded it for a century. When Edward Twomey bought the shop in 1976, the secret spice mix came with it, and only he and his wife Colette ever mixed it. The visitor centre on Western Road is built around that story, in the working factory where the pudding is still made.
It’s a short visit – allow about an hour – and the part worth coming for is the glass viewing gallery over the production line. If the line is running, you watch the actual pudding being made rather than a museum mock-up of it; the centre sits inside the factory, not beside it. Time your visit for the morning, because the gallery is only worth it while production is on.
The tour
You collect a handheld audio device at the door and walk the exhibits at your own pace. The narrative runs from rural West Cork in the 1880s, through Edward Twomey taking on the butcher’s shop in 1976, to the brand’s reach into the UK, Australia and beyond. The self-guided loop takes 30 to 45 minutes; add the gallery and a stop in the café and you’re at roughly an hour.
What gives Clonakilty pudding its lighter, crumbly texture is the high proportion of oatmeal – it’s the cereal-heavy end of the blood-sausage family, closer to a Stornoway pudding than to a dense continental boudin. The production from 1992 was actually based at Little Island near Cork City; the visitor centre brought the story back to the town in 2020.
Café and gift shop
The tour ends with samples in the café – the black pudding, plus the white and veggie versions. Booking is sensible, especially in summer. The gift shop carries the full range, from standard packs to gift boxes and the specialty Spice Trail flavours, alongside branded bits and other West Cork producers’ food, so it doubles as a place to pick up something to take home.
Visiting with children
There’s a miniature farmyard exhibit for younger visitors and colour-in worksheets to keep them busy, with seasonal events at Easter and over the summer. Groups of ten or more get a discount, but a guided tour (rather than the self-guided one) needs a minimum of ten and must be booked ahead by phone or email.
Practical information
- Address: Western Road, Clonakilty, Co. Cork, P85 V966
- Phone: +353 23 883 4835
- Email: visit@clonakiltyblackpudding.ie
- Website: clonakiltyblackpudding.ie
- Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 9.30am–5pm, last admission 4pm. Some sources list Sunday closures from October to March only, so check before a summer Sunday visit. Hours can vary around the Christmas period.
- Parking: Free secure car and bicycle parking on-site.
- Getting there: A short walk from Clonakilty’s main street; local buses stop nearby.
Book online for a time slot in the peak summer months. Clonakilty itself is worth the rest of the day: Inchydoney beach is ten minutes’ drive, the West Cork Model Railway Village is in town, and De Barra’s Folk Club runs live music most nights. If you only do the pudding tour, go in the morning so the line is running when you reach the gallery.