Neven Maguire used to watch his mother look out the window of their restaurant in Blacklion, County Cavan as the Troubles raged outside. The uncertainty over the family business, the anxiety over the violence, the check points and the unknown had a huge impact on life in the Border area. 
The celebrity chef recalls a time when his family’s business was struggling to make ends meet, now MacNean House and Restaurant is fully booked for the next two years and he has become one of the biggest success stories to emerge from the Cavan/Fermanagh region. 
But he remembers all too well how bumpy the road has been. 
“Business was very inconsistent during the Troubles. The house was bombed twice; that would have got headline news and it wasn’t a very nice place to come to. When you looked out our restaurant window you’d see the guards and the customs. Nobody wanted to stop,” said Mr. Maguire in an interview with The Impartial Reporter in Blacklion. 
As a teenager he used to watch his parents Joe and Vera worry about the future of their business. 
“I remember working when I was 17, 18 years old and there were weeks I didn’t get paid. But it wasn’t about money for me, it was about supporting my family.”
“My mother is the reason I got into cooking; she was a fantastic mother and a great cook, a great chef and worked really hard. I remember how hard she worked and reared a family at the same time. She loved what she did, she knew she had to make ends meet. Then when we closed dad opened a garage, he used to repair cars and his nickname was Joe Diesel. Mum would have done catering in the golf club, dinner dances. By God she worked hard,” he said. 
But even as violence raged up the road, there was an air of normality inside the Maguire home.
“When the restaurant closed during the Troubles what mum did every Sunday was a cook a roast, no matter what. She invited the local priest, aunts, uncles, whoever wanted to come over. There could have been roast duck, roast beef, done to perfection. So I think food unites people, I think it brings people together, I think it brings families together,” he said. 
Now a renowned restaurateur, author, television star, husband to Amelda who runs his business, and parent to four year old twins Conor and Lucia, Mr. Maguire has become Ireland’s leading chef.
“I worked in other places but I always came back to Blacklion, I always believed we could make it work. I got a break in television 18 or 19 years ago on RTE One so I was on that every week for six years and that’s how I got established. “
“Now we are known all over the country which is amazing. Dublin is number one for our clientele, Cork is number two and that’s four and a half hours away. We have over 55 staff employed, it’s incredible employment in a wee village. Every Saturday and weekend for the next two years is gone. But we’ll get 50 per cent cancellations which is a good thing, people need to know. In five days we took over three and a half thousand bookings. But I never take this for granted. I remember having five or six people in the restaurant and going out and serving the food myself, it was that quiet.”
He speaks of his “huge affection” for South West College, formerly Fermanagh College, where he trained and how he likes to give something back by employing chefs from the area.
“I taught there for five years and loved every moment of it. Two of my chefs are my former students. And two of the girls are here 16 years, my head chef is here 12 years, a Fermanagh man from Lisnaskea. My second chef is from Tempo. So I believe in shopping local for staff as well as food,” he laughed.
Mr. Maguire believes Blacklion’s position on the Border is a help, not a hindrance. “We have 19 rooms but we will fill another 15 or 20 rooms in the area, there is like a ripple effect. In a small community that is very important. Cross Border trade is huge. People will travel from the North even for Sunday dinner. We do 90 or 100 for Sunday lunch each week. We are booked out until February for Sunday lunch, that has never happened before,” he said. 
But the businessman admits to being anxious about Brexit  and what it may mean for the locality. 
“Of course I am concerned. I would be worried for businesses. Will it affect mine? I think long-term it will affect everyone. I think there is so much uncertainty and I don’t think anyone wins. I think people were misled, I think if there was another referendum I don’t think they would go for it. I sat up the whole night watching the results come in thinking this was crazy, there was a numbness. We don’t want a Border, we can’t go back to that. I am a very positive person and I hope people will get on with it as best they can, but it is a scary time,” he said.
Looking to the future, Mr. Maguire says his passion for his job and his life will never fade. “I love my life, my job, that has never changed. Never did I believe the business would be the success it has been. Amelda has been a great influence in my life, and works in the business. People ask me what is it like working with your wife? I love it, she’s amazing and you have got to keep that balance. I love her and the kids so much, they’re the reason I do this,” he said, perhaps mirroring how his teenage self looked out for his family through the good times and bad.