MK’s B&B, Strabane
Michael Kelly runs MK’s B&B on Strabane’s Derry Road. His business has a busy bar attached to it and summer is no different from winter in terms of visitor numbers — every week is busy.
“We have been in the B&B business for 17 years,” he says. “When I bought the building, it was a bar with flats above and behind it. I kept the bar and turned the flats area into five beautiful rooms for a B&B. We have never stopped since.
“It is a family-run business. My dad and my sister have helped me over the years, working weekends and the like. My
mum, who sadly passed away, did the accounts.
“When you have a B&B, it very much has to be hands-on. It’s hard work, but it is also enjoyable.”
Michael no longer has to do the early morning work — his staff handle the breakfasts, leaving him to start later in the day and go long into the evening.
“I am blessed with amazing staff,” he says. “We have two fabulous housekeepers who run things.
“Because I work nights in the bar, I don’t do the early mornings. Instead, I do the check-ins and make sure we have all the provisions. My housekeepers do breakfasts from 8-10am. They also do the rooms.
“I come in at 3.30pm and make sure all the rooms are okay and do the laundry.
“We had 13 people who checked out this morning, so you can imagine the amount of towels I was dealing with.
“You are on the go the entire day. I also work in the bar five nights a week and my dad does two.”
Despite all the hard work, Michael adores the job.
“I do love it,” he says. “I love welcoming someone down to breakfast and starting their day off nicely with a positive attitude. Summer is no different to any other time of the year. We are constantly busy. During the week we have business customers and then at weekends tourists and visitors — and then you have walk-ins.
“The best part of running a B&B is most definitely the people you meet. We are in a small border town and we get a lot of people staying with us from Australia, Scotland and America.
“People come to stay when they’re going to weddings and functions. It’s lovely to hear all their stories.
“The worst part is, I suppose, that it is physically hard work.
“You are here seven days a week, but we love it, or we wouldn’t do it.”
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