Rosita Boland spends 36 hours in Tramore: 'It was pints of Guinness all day long. Now we see more coffee than all other drinks combined'
Danny Devine is the co-owner – or “proprietor”, as he prefers to be called – of the 60-room Majestic Hotel with his wife Annette. The Devines have had the hotel for 33 years; a lovely, light-filled space with understated glamour in the bedrooms; striking prints of gold palm trees, and art-deco style fabric on one wall.
“When we started first, when the breakfast was over, the bar door would rattle with people looking for pints of Guinness all day long. Now, we sell more coffee in the bar than all the other drinks combined during the daytime. That is the single biggest change.”I go to check into my hotel, the Sands, on Turkey Road. Six days before arrival, I had phoned to book a room for two nights, and been asked at that time to pay a non-refundable room charge of €159 in full for the first night.
Guillamene is a gorgeous, deep-water cove, beneath soaring cliffs. The position of the sun is such that it’s right over the cove, lighting up the blue-green water. I spend almost an hour in the water, and it is glorious. I can see all the way back to Tramore, and the “Vertical” – a 40m-high ride in the amusement park.
There are 46 different rides on the four-acre site, which has been in existence in its present form since 1987. The land and all the attractions are collectively owned by a number of shareholders, “of showman background”, as Garland puts it. Garland believes that Tramore has “untapped potential as a destination. Our PR is very bad. There is a perception out there that Tramore attracts the wrong kind of people.”“People who would sit down and be loud and have a drink. But things have changed. More and more families are coming now.”I’m back walking the prom. There’s a stall on the prom displaying signs that look like number plates, but aren’t.
Friends Pat McGuinness and Donagh Cronin bought the place, which was originally a coach house, a couple of years ago. They spent several months upgrading the outside structure, which now showcases corten steel, hardwood cedar and retractable roofs. Alan Dooly stops bagging chips and serving fried haddock to chat to me. He is the third generation of his family to work in the business. His grandmother set up the first shop, which his father took over, and now himself and his two siblings run three shops; a third is in Waterford city.
This is summer 2021, where hospitality remains so uneasily dependent on weather until other arrangements are put in place
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