McAllister Volkswagen Airside Swords

Part of the fabric of what is termed ‘Old Malahide’, the McAllister family have had a prominent part to play in the development of commercial life in North County Dublin.

McAllister of Malahide now McAllister Volkswagen Airside is a company whose origins are, in part, intertwined with the history of Malahide itself. The business was originally started by brothers Richard and Alex McAllister as a follow on from the forge and blacksmith business which had been run by their father Joseph and his son William, brother to Richard and Alex, father and uncle of the current owners.

This was the era of horse-drawn transport and the drawn of the motor industry in Ireland.

Before founding the McAllisters of Malahide motor business, Richard worked for Dr. John Colohan, owner of the Grand Hotel, Malahide, whom he served in the position then known as a ‘gentleman’s gentleman’. Dr Colohan is reputed to have brought the first motor car into Ireland.

Regularly Richard would accompany Dr. Colohan and his wife on their numerous trips to Europe and for the course of their long stays in Monaco and Southern France.

After Dr.Colohan’s death in 1932 in Marlow, England, Richard returned to Malahide where, with his younger brother Alex, he developed a franchise for spraying Fiat cars imported into Ireland. This business has its base at Railway Avenue, Malahide on the site of their fathers’ forge and blacksmith business.

Further development saw them purchase land at La Mancha where they built a forecourt, shop and two houses – a development much admired for its architectural features even to this day.

It was not unnatural that the arrival world War II would see the collapse of their spray painting business as the supply of motor vehicles became erratic, to say the least! Fuel sales at La Mancha were also affected.

Despite these difficulties, Alex McAllister continued in business with motor servicing and repairs at Railway Avenue while Richard turned to farming family lands at Mabestown, Malahide. It was during his farming years that he married and fathered three sons, Kenneth (born 1945), Richard (born 1947) and Alex (born 1952).

In 1962, Richard sold his farm and redeveloped La Mancha which had been run until then by Sara, a sister to himself and Alex. By the time of his death in 1966, Richard had transformed the forecourt and shop into a modern efficient operation.

In1972, his son, the present Richard McAllister, opened a workshop at La Mancha into which he transferred the service and repair business previously managed at Railway Avenue by his retired uncle, Alex.

Thanks to the rapid growth in the population of Malahide, which began during the 1970’s, it had developed into a fully fledged motor dealership holding franchises for Volvo, Citroen and Suzuki.

In 1995, another leap forward took place when McAllister brothers, Richard and Alex became main dealers for Volkswagen and Audi passenger cars and light commercial vehicles – a development that was to transform the fortunes of the business and set it on a growth path for the future.

2005 saw another major move when they purchased land at Airside Swords and built the present custom built Volkswagen showrooms and aftersales unit. They concentrated their business to their sales and service of Volkswagen cars and Volkswagen light commercials.