The REAL border that divides the al fresco dinner set
East-coast diners bask in sun… but it’s a gloomier tale in the rain-battered west
IT’S been a tale of two coasts for the hospitality sector since the return of outdoor dining and drinking earlier this month. While most of the east coast has basked in ‘Mediterranean’ sunshine and balmy temperatures, parts of the west have been battered by torrential rain and high winds.
Dubliners may be feasting and sipping pints and Aperol spritzes on terraces around the city, but some west-coast venues are struggling to even open some days because of the poor weather.
‘We’ve been blessed with incredible Mediterranean weather since opening,’ says Fiona McHugh, owner of Lenehan’s Bar & Grill in Rathmines, Dublin, where actress Amy Huberman recently popped in for cocktails.
‘It’s made an enormous difference – the fine weather has allowed us to make the most of our three outdoor terraces. So thank heaven for that.’
On Capel Street just north of the Liffey, a number of bars and restaurants are offering ‘al fresco’ service for the first time. Dublin City Council has extended footpaths to accommodate for the shift outdoors.
‘We’ve been very lucky with the weather,’ says Brian Conlon, manager of Slattery’s pub. ‘The customers have all come back, we’re happy with that. We can seat 62 out there.’
‘It’s absolutely brilliant – a big game-changer for us,’ says Hugh Hourican of The Boar’s Head. ‘People would normally walk straight past you but now they’re seeing the outdoor dining and they’re stopping. We’ve been
‘All this rain has turned our new grass to mud
blessed with the weather. Last weekend was fabulous.’
Sadly though things are gloomier west of the Shannon.
For some pubs in Connacht, it was only the heavens that opened for the bank holiday earlier this month as plans to accommodate outdoors were scuppered by ‘horrendous’ weather.
‘It’s been very difficult,’ says Mary McHugh, owner of The Ivy Tower Hotel in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, where recent upgrades have been made to allow for outdoor service.
‘If you have bookings and then it starts raining, everybody moves to the empty table that is better covered. Then you end up with absolute chaos trying to take care of bookings. Outdoor dining in the west of Ireland is different from outdoor dining in Dublin. The other thing is that we put down very good quality new grass in the garden, and with all the rain it just turned into mud. So we’ve had to take out
some of that and put in paving stones instead.
‘It’s been a constant nightmare. There were two women sitting under a table umbrella the other day holding two more umbrellas.’
Michael Coyne, owner of Coyne’s Gastropub in Cill Chiaráin, Co. Galway, knows the rough weather will pass. ‘You don’t come to the west for the weather. That’s what Connemara is about. It’s about getting outdoors and if you get caught in a shower, that’s part of it. The tack I’m taking is that it’s a long-term project. So I’ve built a plinth outside, and I’m going to have gazebos up.’
‘What can we do about the weather?” says Barney Clarke of The Wyatt Hotel in Castlebar. ‘It’s Ireland after all!’
The forecast for next week is for the weather to warm up but unfortunately, not to dry up, across the country.