Auburn Hotels (Aherlow) Limited, Aherlow, Co. Tipperary has announced, with great regret, that it has been obliged to cease trading as Aherlow House Hotel, with effect from the 9th February 2016.
The scenic hotel has surrendered possession of the hotel premises to the Receiver of Aherlow House Hotel Ltd, Mr Costelloe of Messrs Grant Thornton’s, Limerick office, with immediate effect.
Auburn Hotels (Aherlow) Limited had been in negotiations with the receiver of the hotel over an extended period with regard to the future of the property and in the expectation that it could remain operating the premises, having envisaged that bookings could be taken for functions for dates into the future.
It is now understood that the receiver intends to place the hotel for sale on the open market and that the present lease granted will not be renewed or extended; leaving the company with no option but to cease trading with immediate effect.
Some 25 employment contracts held by the hotels staff have been now terminated and the hotel will not itself be in a position to carry through bookings already confirmed. The hotel is understood to have in excess of 40 weddings and other functions confirmed for the year ahead, but say it will not be in a position to meet future commitments. However the Receiver has requested full particulars of all bookings for weddings and functions to be furnished to them, together with full particulars of all staff currently employed. Same information will be passed on to all / any interested future purchasers.
Functions booked to take place in the immediate future at Aherlow House Hotel have now been accommodated at other venues including Kilcoran Lodge Hotel, Cahir and at the Clonmel Park Hotel, some 25km to 43km distance from the Aherlow venue.
Dundrum House Hotel
Fears are also growing for the immediate future of the wonderful Dundrum House Hotel, in Dundrum Co. Tipperary, situated some 28km from Aherlow House, where 110 employees have been given notice that their place of employment may also close within a month unless a new buyer can be located.
The loss of both superb Tipperary hotel venues are seen as a massive economic blow to the over all future of tourism in Co. Tipperary, particularly through attendance at numerous visitor centres, museums and the wider county’s rural economy.
Such job losses are not expected to feature on any Irish TV channels, unlike the loss of 140 jobs in Cleary’s department store in O’Connell Street, Dublin. Tipperary after all is only a jobless region somewhere in a long forgotten ‘Rural Ireland’.
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