We have remarked before on the incredible feat that Hugh McNally has performed in his stylish d’n’d, just beside the river in Doonbeg. Hugh’s pub used to be no more than that: the familiar bar in little Doonbeg, hard by the banks of the river.
Today, it is a pair of stylish dining rooms with a small bar and with excellent accommodation upstairs. It is fleet, fun, friendly, oozes personality in its design and its food and its hospitality. It has a true signature style – modern, willing, energetic, open, European. We love it. So do our kids. So does everyone.It would be easy to take this transformation for granted.
After all, isn’t it what every rural pub should be doing, at a time when pubs are dying like snow on the ditch? Except, transforming is easy to talk about, but very difficult to do right, and unbelievably difficult to do as well as Hugh Morrissey has done: Morrissey’s is a peach. Mr McNally may have done what everyone would like to do, but it is in exceeding the expected that he has triumphed.
