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A HOTEL HAS told a couple they need to find an alternative venue for their wedding in just eight weeks.
Middleton Park House in Castletown Geoghegan, Co Westmeath has closed its doors, leaving several couples scrambling to find other venues.
In an email sent to a couple who were due to have their wedding ceremony and reception at the hotel on 14 May, Gerard Lynam, the director of the company that runs the hotel – Fredel Ltd, said the decision to close the hotel was made “with deep regret”.
Can’t read the email? Click here.
The email states that the premises “require substantial work to make it comply with a fire enforcement notice”.
Lynam signs off the email by saying:
We would advise you to make alternative arrangements for your wedding.
The bride received the email just as she was leaving to go on her hen party.
The groom told TheJournal.ie the couple are “gutted” and have been planning the wedding since they got engaged in 2014. 14 May is a significant date for them as it marks their 11th anniversary.
The groom said they had heard rumours the hotel was set to close earlier this year, but staff reassured them the venue was “not bust” and their wedding “will go ahead as planned”.
He said the below email was sent in January.
Can’t read the email? Click here.
When the couple had difficulty getting in touch with the hotel in February, a staff member emailed them to let them know the hotel “closes every year for between 6 and 12 weeks at the start of the season as there is no demand”.
Can’t read the email? Click here.
“Why they didn’t tell us there were problems weeks ago we don’t know,” he said.
Now we find ourselves with a wedding dress, a band, cars, suits, relations coming home from abroad, but one thing missing: no venue and eight weeks to find one.
The couple live in Co Dublin and said they have no particular ties to Westmeath but decided to get married at the hotel after falling in love with the setting. As they’re not from the area, the groom said they had less reason to visit the hotel as often as someone who lived locally might.
He said they are lucky to have only lost their initial deposit – about €1,500, but are struggling to find another venue with less than two months to go. .
“We’re more disappointed that it just came out in an email. I wouldn’t like to have made that phone call either but it’s the least they could have done,” he said.
Catherine Ahern, another bride who has been affected, told us that rumours about a possible closure started circulating in January, with it being common knowledge locally.
She said staff members confirmed this was the case, telling her they had been let go.
Gradually we, along with many other couples, began trying to contact them which became impossible as there were no staff to answer calls or emails. We began taking to their Facebook page, voicing our concerns and telling them what we had been hearing. These comments were deleted.
Ahern said she was also told the hotel closed for a number of weeks every year. She claimed the length of this closure “increased as the weeks went on”.
She also lost her deposit and has since booked a new hotel for her reception.
“They could have called months ago and kept us informed.”
Refunds unlikely
TheJournal.ie has tried to contact the hotel on numerous occasions in recent days. The hotel’s website is still live, but its Facebook page has been removed.
In a statement to Midlands 103, Lynam confirmed the closure. He said seven employees have lost their jobs and 30 casual staff are affected.
Lynam said that 18 weddings were booked at the hotel between April and the middle of next year, and refunds are unlikely as Fredel Ltd has no cash or assets.
He said the hotel will not reopen for a long time, if at all.
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I heard the Director on 4fm today, he said he has 14 weeks to live and was on a high dose of Morphin during the interview. He was very crass and quiet rude and showed no real sincerity when he apoligised to two people who booked their weddings there.
He also took little personal blame instead blaming some conspericy involving the fire warden. Closing the hotel down.
It was very uncomfortable to listen to as he was clearly heavily medicated. I would question why the interview was even allowed to go on as long as it did.
He found it hard to start a sentence but he was well able to quote Irish trading laws and shout at the presenter when it suited! I hope he enjoyed spending our money.
Heard that interview and he clearly wanted to be on and showed little sympathy for the two people on air who both paid him over €1000 deposit. He was obnoxiously rude and to be honest Niall Boylan would have normally destroyed anyone like this but clearly took into consideration his situation. He was rude, obnoxious, evasive and horrible to the innocent victims of his downfall. Listening to him I can say I had little sympathy for his personal situation and illness as he was well able to quote company law and know his rights but had no morals or ethics.
I didn’t hear the interview, but when I was organising my wedding 8 years ago, I did so from abroad, so had my mum go look at venues for me, she & my brother went to have a look at Middleton Park, she said she found the people very rude, she had made an appointment to have a look at the venue, was kept waiting for over an hour before anyone showed her around and then she said they were very brisk and didn’t seem very interested. So we crossed that one off of our list very quickly.
The man had more on his mind than the wedding I bet. The Fire Office had more on his mind than the wedding. The first had death and the second had multiple deaths like the stardust. All the wedding rings and bouquets and not worth much if your torched to a cinder.
Why were they still taking deposits and bookings ?? Knowing they were closing.
Gardai should check their record of business transactions and dates
It’s absolutely disgraceful how we have all been treated, we have lost € 4000. And then the way he spoke today on radio, I went to dispute a transaction with the bank were we had paid some by card and only to find out that it had gone to a defender security, that’s fraud they give my card details out without my permission, they have been planning this, and what can we do, it’s all a joke
‘The email states that the premises “require substantial work to make it comply with a fire enforcement notice”.’
So why didn’t the company that runs the hotel ensure that it was in line with fire safety regulations in the first place?
It’s gone to the point now where one would be best advised to search the Company Registration Office prior to engaging in any financial transaction (of serious consequence) with a hotel. A sad reality.
Absolutely appalling and I am so upset by this interview today .The man is dying for goodness sake ,and these people are worried about finances ,that they should have paid for by credit card ,and it could then b refunded .Are we now at the place where we are focusing on the fact that a few thousand is more important than a human being who has to cope with his life coming to an end ,yet we are willing to demean him publicly .This man is rightly angry ,as its a stage of bereavement ,and he is angry as he probably couldn’t borrow to rectify his hotel problems ,because,remember,the banks stopped lending ! Poor guy!at the end of his life having to deal with this abuse !’What have we come to ??This is so so wrong at every level .
Oh sure that makes everything fine once your terminally ill you can rob, lie and then threaten people with libel when they enquire about there weddings. Just because your at the end of your life doesn’t give you the right to ruin someone else’s without consequence.
Cromleach lodge in Sligo has closed leaving the very same mess recently and only a few weeks ago they were advertising for staff.
These crowd advertised jobs a few weeks ago too! All for show.
Business can be tough, and there is so much red tape when it comes to food and safety. It is almost impossible to trade, I would say the hotel were holding on in hope of a solution. Not easy for anyone involved
No but it’s easy to pick up the phone and keep clients informed. Also very easy to not make threats of libel towards anybody who asked questions. It’s not the fact the business flopped that’s upset us, it’s the absolute ignorance and contempt we’ve been treated with throughout this whole mess.
I have sympathy for both parties involved, the poor man is dying and is probably getting abuse from people not to mention bankrupt, sympathy also for the poor couples who lost money and a venue. Would the people who lost there money rather be in his shoes ? No definitely not. Its a shame what has happened, handled poorly by the hotel management yes, but also a man is dying and has lost the hotel. Hope the couples get some money back and the man gets to spend his last few months in peace not dealing with people giving out. Life SHOULD be more important than Money
Easy to say that when it wasn’t your money.
It’s absolutely disgraceful how we have all been treated, and the way he spoke today on radio,we disputed a transaction that we paid by card only to find out that it went to a defender security that we did not authorised, that’s fraud, they knew what they were doing, hiding money, Also 2 weeks ago they told me that food tasting would be end of March a pack of liers
If the cause was fire safety related, there is no telling what this would have cost.
They were not in a position to finance this, as stated they have no money…
Any business that is in trouble certainly know this a long way off, and should have closed sooner.
I hope the couple will get fixed up elsewhere and have a great day…..Letting them know by a text message is very bad business practice…
We have come to a new low in broadcasting today .I consider this interview today offensive to the person .
The director/owner/Basil Fawlty is one of the rudest people around in an industry centered on customer service, especially someone’s big day. the venue had a horrible reputation in the wedding industry amongst suppliers who hate going there, wrecking your van suspension driving in the middle of nowhere to be greeted by an unhelpful sanctimonious pr*ck with this “Bring it on you bsrtds” attitude to genuine trip advisor reviews.
I know a lovely hotel that’s available that date, tell that couple to message me.
How come they lost their deposit?
Cos they’re bankrupt and our money is gone.
@ Catherine. Can you do a charge back on your Visa / Debit card for services not received? You’re covered by Visa if you used a card to pay
We’ve applied to get some of it back but we’ve missed the time limit so it’s at their discretion now.
My wife and I got married there August 2014.it was up for sale as far back as then and we were told if we needed to worry we would be told so and that we were over reacting,absolute disgrace.
I repeat there is too much red tape when it comes to the service industry in this country. Jobs for the boys
So who owns the hotel if fredel limited does not? Are they the same people behind fredel and will they now be able to sell it and walk away ? This is all very sad. We got married there lasy year and it was amazing. I can’t understand how things have come to this. I feel really sorry for all who have lost their deposits and all the ordinary staff who lost their jobs.
Loads of time
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