Royal Theatre has massive spin-off for county town

A HIGHLY skilled management team has been working hard behind the scenes to promote the TF Royal Hotel & Theatre in Castlebar as the hub in the west of Ireland for entertainment and accommodation, writes Tom Gillespie.

Carmel Kelly is director of operations and the management team, including duty manager Joe O’Dea, food and beverages manager Donnacha Roche, head chef Sean McGahon and head of security Austin Meehan, have transformed the business in recent years.

Carmel Kelly told me: "We are improving our product daily. We have newly renovated conference rooms, a quality restaurant with a new a lá carte and evening menu, which is also available on Sunday evenings from 5 p.m., and our carvery has proved an enormous success.

"We also have upgraded our function room, which can cater for up to 180 persons - it used to be the old Panama Jack’s room. We do not specialise in discos anymore."

Carmel continued: "We stage a lot of concerts in the 2,000-seater theatre which has proven very successful and we have a huge programme lined up for 2020.

"We have also social dancing every Wednesday which has proved very popular. The theatre shows are getting bigger all the time. We are getting a very good response locally where people now understand the benefits and spin-offs of the concerts for Castlebar, from restaurants, pubs, taxies, clothes shops, hairdressers and B&Bs.

"We have refurbished our 24 bedrooms and the biggest thing now is that we have 55 people employed which has been increasing every year. We work very well together, and we honour loyalty."

Carmel Kelly, originally from Newtown, Clogher, has been working in the TF for 21 years, and she spoke of the huge demand for civil and partnership ceremonies at the hotel.

She explained: "We host a lot of civil ceremonies, and we are the location for the State civil ceremonies on the first Thursday of every month. We could have a minimum of six ceremonies on a Thursday, and many others during the month, every month. We have had weddings/ceremonies from Dublin, Chinese doctors, and Syrian. It is multi-cultural and diverse society and we are changing with the times.

"At some weddings/ceremonies there might be only four people and others up to 150. The registrar from the HSE conducts the ceremonies, which last 20 to 30 minutes.

"Recently we catered for consultants from Mayo University Hospital and the food produced on the night was ethnic and those in attendance all wore traditional dress."

Managing director Pat Jennings emphasised the quality of accommodation available at the TF, stating: "That is the message we want to get across. We are ideally located almost in the town centre within walking distance to everywhere, and, most importantly, we have free car parking."

Pat continued: "We are now hosting numerous more community projects in the theatre, with the Mayo Concert Orchestra, Fainne Óir and an afternoon tea party for example."

Scheduled for a week-long run at the Royal Theatre in September is Dirty Dancing - the biggest musical ever staged in the West End. The show will be staged at Bord Gaís Theatre, Dublin, for four weeks in July, and in Castlebar, Killarney and Derry in September.

Carmel highlighted the huge range of events they can cater for, stating: "We cater for special occasions such as retirement parties, birthday parties, children’s tea parties and funerals. Really we can cater for anything. We have three main function rooms which can cater for up to 550 people, as well as nine state-of-the-art meeting rooms."

The TF also have the franchise for Ticketmaster since Downtown Records closed in Castlebar where any other shows can be booked.

The TF Royal Hotel & Theatre in Castlebar can be contacted on (094) 9023111 or email info@royaltheatrecastlebar.ie or sales@tfhotel.ie. One can also visit their websites to view upcoming acts and events at www.royaltheatrecastlebar.ie or www.tfhotel.ie.

 

 

Do you have a story to tell about your business? If so, Tom Gillespie would be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch at (087) 9680780 or gillespietom49@gmail.com.