Cork: Chapel Steps is top class at right price

Chapel Steps, Patrick’s Place,

THIS Easter weekend, as Christians consider redemption, rejuvenation or if atonement has a place in their life this week’s venue, the impressive Chapel Steps in Bandon, provoked a few moments of reflection for me.

More than a half a century ago I began school in a small, snug room in the belfry of Bandon church, perched just at the top of the steps that gives this week’s restaurant its name. It was just the kind of space a flights-of-fancy child might expect to meet a wise old owl, soothing hoots, thick glasses and every other cliche within reach for a four-year-old. Had JK Rowling found Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore four decades before she did he would have certainly presided.