Ireland’s oldest hotel — which claims to have been taking in guests continually since 1795 — is on the market with a price tag of more than half-a-million Euros.
Local records show that The Grand Hotel in Tramore began trading under a different name in the final decade of the 18th century. Sometime during the next century it became the “Great Hotel”, eventually adopting its present name in 1920. Now the current owners, Tom and Anna Treacy, have decided to sell up and retire.
The sale of the Grand is being handled by Waterford agents Purcell Properties, which admits the hotel is in need of “serious modernisation”. The challenge for its new owners will be to build on the affection for its quaintness, while increasing creature comforts and facilities and finishes,” says Des Purcell.
In recent years Tramore has become a major tourist resort on the south-east coast of Ireland, attracting family trade from as far away as Dublin.
“The Grand has been a landmark in the country’s hospitality industry and is approaching its 220 year of continuous trading, added Purcell. “Very few hotels anywhere can make that boast that and we hope it will generate lively interest for the forthcoming sale.”
The Treacy family, which acquired the business in 2004, added 30 bedrooms in a new wing at the rear of the original building. It now has 81 en-suite bedrooms and four bars. The dining room can currently cater for 90 covers and the function room and adjoining tap room — regularly used for live entertainment, conferences, functions and weddings — accommodates up to 250 guests.
“It’s acknowledged in the hotel industry, generally, that The Grand offers very considerable potential for further development and expansion, and the guide price of €550,000 (£461,000) reflects this,” said Purcell.
In 1894, when PM Egan published his History of Waterford, the hotel was owned by a Margaret Kavanagh. The writer described it as being of the “the highest repute for possessing all the qualifications befitting a first class establishment”. Standards remained high and a 1915 review stressed white tie and tails was a prerequisite for dinner and that the hotel boasted one of the most formal and renowned dining rooms in the country. Five years later, when the name was changed to The Grand, Waterford crystal chandeliers were added to the public rooms.
Purcell Properties says that although the business has been suspended the property remains a fully functioning hotel and could reopen at any time. A message on the business’s web site says: “It is with great sadness we announce that The Grand Hotel, Tramore, has ceased trading after 30 years owned by the Treacy family.”
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