ALL ABOARD

AllAboard

A complete refurbishment at the Station House Hotel in Kilmessan, County Meath, has placed the hotel in an excellent position for when restrictions ease.

History and heritage play a big role at the Station House Hotel. Operating as a guesthouse since 1983, the Station House Hotel served as a train line to Meath and Westmeath from 1862 before the line closed in 1947. The turntable that served as a turning point for trains returning to Dublin can still be found in the hotel’s surrounding environs along with several other original elements including the railway safe, fireplaces and the train platforms which stand outside the hotel’s front door.

Thelma and Chris Slattery opened the guesthouse back in 1983 and are still involved in day to day operations. Their daughters, Denise and Suzanne, now manage the hotel. All four have been involved in the extensive refurbishment which has seen the renovation of all public spaces, including the 19 bedrooms, Signal Restaurant and Platform Bar. “The refurbishment almost happened by accident. In 2019, I was sitting in the hotel one day with a friend who happens to be an interior designer. We were wondering what the ceiling would look like if we painted it. We decided to go for it and after that

we just kept going,” said Suzanne Slattery, Manager at the Station House. Later that same year, a decision was made to refurbish all 19 bedrooms, including the two-room Signal Suite, the original signal box for the station along with the former stationmaster’s quarters, now the Grand Suite.

The Slattery family worked with Millimetre Design and local interior designer Noreen Lawless on the refurb. The interiors now feature hand-woven jute rugs and suzani cushions made to order by From Jaipur with Love, an Indian artisan company founded by Irish designer Elizabeth Morrison along with fabrics from Christopher Farr, Pierre Frey, William Morris & Co and Harlequin. Artworks from local artist Deirdre Hoffman hangs on the Station House’s walls while Mullan Lighting in County Cavan supplied some of the hand-made lighting.

“Meath is such a beautiful county and for me, it was important to bring a lot of colour inside the Hotel. We wanted to make it modern and fresh but not so modern that it would lose its country house charm. When I first spoke with Millimetre Design, I said I don’t want it to look like a hotel, I wanted it to look like a beautiful home, a place you’d love to go and stay with all the modern amenities you’d find in a five star hotel.” It still feels like the Station House, says Suzanne, but it’s a much fresher space. “There was quite a lot of heavy wood and dark furniture before the renovation. That’s all been replaced and it just feels so much lighter now.”

The hotel’s library, originally the main station’s toilet, still features original antique bookcases, sash windows, fire guards and tables. Locked for years, shutters in the Grand Suite dating back to the 1800’s have been renovated and opened up. The entire room has been painted green, with yellow doors. “It took Ronan Houlihan in Millimetre Design a while to convince me that painting the whole room green would work. He insisted it would make the furniture really pop out, which it does. It’s great

working with people who know what they’re doing, it makes you that bit more adventurous.” The Slattery family continue to work with Millimetre Design, this time on the Carriage Suite or function room where weddings are held. “The Carriage Suite should have been finished by March but with the current lockdown, it was delayed. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of April and that will be the last phase of the refurb.”

Throughout 2020, a number of intimate weddings were held at the Station House. “I’ve always thought the Signal Restaurant in the main building would be the ideal venue for a small wedding. As it turned out, Covid forced that to happen. So our weddings became smaller but still really beautiful.” Once Level 5 restrictions lift, the Station House team will be ready to open fully to the public. “We’ve got a new website on the way, new wines on the menu and new people joining our team. We’re also relaunching the Signal Restaurant with the emphasis very much on locally sourced food. It will almost be like what it was in the 80’s, when everything was sourced locally.” Although closing the hotel has been far from ideal, it has given Suzanne and the team a chance to look at the Station House through a different lens. “You’re normally so busy with operations that you never have time to think through the changes you’d like to make. Since closing in March 2020, we’ve certainly had that time and we’re delighted we’ve been able to implement them. Now though, we really can’t wait to reopen!”

Books out this month....

The Anti-Cancer C kb k: Recipes to Reduce your Cancer Risk

Author: Dr Aoife Ryan, Dr Éadaoin Ní Bhuachalla Publisher: Cork University Press RRP: €25

Available: All good bookshops and breakthroughcancerresearch.ie

Georgina Campbell, Derval O’Rourke and Neven Maguire are just some of the culinary contributors to a new healthy eating cookbook created to help lower the risk of cancer by two of Ireland’s leading dietitians and cancer experts at University College Cork (UCC). This unique cookbook was written and compiled by leading registered Irish dietitians, Dr Aoife Ryan, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at UCC and Dr Éadaoin Ní Bhuachalla, UCC PhD graduate and HSE Senior Primary Care Dietitian, who said they wanted to counteract the “rising tide of misinformation on cancer and nutrition” now circulating widely. They partnered with Breakthrough Cancer Research to create the book as a ‘go to’ evidence-based resource for people who want to cook and consume healthier food to lower their risk of cancer.

B r by Design: Art of G d B r Branding

Author: Pete Brown Publisher: CAMRA Books RRP: €14

Available: www.amazon.com

Pod Life...

MODERNIST BREADCRUMBS

This podcast covers the science of breadmaking, as well Find your as the history next favourite and political podcast with power of our pick of the grains. As the best podcast notes, people riot when they can’t get bread – no one riots over ice-cream. Each episode explores bread from a di erent angle from its complicated past to the grains, tools Ask any beer lover why they choose the beers and microbes we use to they drink and they’ll tell you it’s all about the make it. taste. That may be true, but you need to see a Listen on Spotify beer and order it before you can fi nd out what or Stitcher it tastes like. On the bar of any decent pub or shelves of a good bottle shop or supermarket POINT OF ORIGIN beer aisle, the choice can be overwhelming. The This is a podcast about design of a beer label, pump clip, bottle or can the world of food, has to do a lot of work to stand out, get noticed worldwide. In each and suggest to the thirsty punter that here is episode, the host travels a beer they will enjoy. In this lavishly illustrated to di erent countries book, acclaimed beer writer Pete Brown explores exploring culture the conventions of successful beer design through food, examining (and how they are now being shattered) and its past and present and explains the tricks and secrets of great design in a what it teaches us about compelling and highly readable narrative. who we are and how we came to be. Listen on Apple CHECK Podcasts or Spotify OUT SOME OF TAKE A BAO THE BEST FOOD- Blogger Loh Yi Jun RELATED BOOKS AND PODCASTS ON THE dedicates his show to Asia’s flavours and food traditions, from MARKET RIGHT NOW Book Shelf unpacking the origins of rice and rendang to deep dives into the depths of Chinese tea and Vietnamese pho. You’ll hear from chefs, farmers, food writers and eaters and learn how to cook and eat iconic Asian dishes. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

A Quick Chat with

Jack Campbe McGowan

Restaurant Supervisor at Fire Steakhouse, Jack Campbell McGowan, on adapting to Covid and making a mean Old Fashioned How has your role changed since Covid?

We have less sta now so there’s defi nitely more to do. Since Covid, we haven’t taken anything out in terms of service, we’ve only added elements in to ensure guests feel comfortable and safe. Alongside that, we want to make sure people enjoy their evening without feeling like they’re in a sterile environment so there’s a balance there that we need to achieve. Everyone, from management down, has invested a lot of time and e ort into that and going by the feedback we were getting before lockdown, it’s working. How many members of sta do you have?

75 in total. As mentioned above, we have less sta at the moment and we’ve gone from doing about 600 covers on a typical pre-Covid Saturday to about 400. One sta member is responsible for ensuring every single area of the building is sanitised. Before we reopened last year, we walked the building an endless number of times and counted every single point a person might touch when they’re going to the bathroom or entering or exiting the building. Every day one member of sta is responsible for cleaning all of those touchpoints and sanitising all the menus, essentially the entire building. How has your car r progre ed?

I’ve been lucky in that I was chosen to participate in the management training programme. I started that two years ago and it consisted of working as a waiter, bartender and a stint on reception. After completing the course, I joined the management team. It was a great opportunity and I learned so much from each element of the course. Ambitions for the future?

I’d like to keep progressing and learning. Fire has given me an excellent training ground, I couldn’t have asked for better. I feel comfortable in every aspect of the business so now it’s all about moving up, improving and ensuring I keep delivering the best service to customers. Fire is we known for its cocktails & what’s your favourite?

The Old Fashioned. One of the bartenders in Fire, a friend of mine, taught me how to make them. I’ve tasted lots of di erent ones in di erent venues but they don’t compare to the Old Fashioned in Fire. That little bit of extra work that goes into them really makes all the di erence. We’re often told by customers that our cocktails are the best they’ve ever had and we’re proud of that.

Talk to us on 0818 363 749 or visit www.pinergy.ie

Call for more info or get a great offer: Tel +353 96 22907

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