Much loved landmark checks out

HIGH noon came yesterday when Dublin’s landmark Burlington Hotel closed its doors.

The hands on the reception clock showed 12.30 when the last guests checked out, 35 years on.

Brave hearts among the ever-courteous staff kept their sense of professionalism to the last.

“It’s a shame it’s closing,” said Londoner Sheelagh Trimmer, the last person to check out. “We had a really good time.”

She was there with her sister Lesley Elbilia, brother-in-law David and their daughter Tara, 12, for the new year ball.

“We’ve been coming here for five years now and it’s a really, really nice hotel. You feel at home,” said David.

Dublin man Michael Coghlan and his Lithuanian-born wife Daiva first met at her birthday party in the Burlington.

“Every year we would come to the Burlington for the New Year’s Eve Ball and stay for a couple of days,” he said.

Sheila Murphy, guest relations manager, felt a mood of the nostalgia sweep over the Burlington. Her career began there.

“Sadly, the people that I have met through the years here I may never see again. And that’s the sad part about it.”

General manager John Clifton joined as trainee manager after his Leaving Cert in 1976.

“I’ve had 32 fantastic years. I am very fortunate with the team that are here. They’re working right up to the last minute. They will all, I have no doubt, get work.”

For the next three weeks he will chill — literally, as he has arranged a holiday on a Russian icebreaker in Antarctica.

Head concierge Frank Treacey said: “It’s hard, I don’t want to cry, I said I wouldn’t cry, I probably will.

“It’s a bit more upbeat than I thought it would, I thought it would be sadder; everything seems to be happening okay.”

Frank grew with the hotel, joining as a pageboy in 1972. He said: “It was the most successful hotel in Europe, it was before its time,” he said proudly.

“I enjoyed every moment of it. It was something I fell into. It was a fantastic place to be in.”

He remembers how US soul band the Stylistics were in Dublin for a sell-out RDS concert and were rehearsing in the hotel ballroom.

“Next door there was a wedding and they went in and did two or three songs at the wedding. It could only happen in the Burlington.

“One of our best celebrity guests was Joe Dolan. From my youngest days, when I was a kid, Joe would give me the time of day. The last time I saw him was in October. He was a gentleman.

“I will take a few weeks off and, hopefully, something will happen. It’s been a great time in my life and if it stopped today I have the memories.”

Paul Fitzsimons, 12 years on the staff, rubs shoulders with Michael Reilly, who retired two years ago after 50 years in hotel work.

Michael said: “It was fabulous for me. Every day was a different day. You never came into work bored. This is a sad day.”

He came back to see old mates like concierge Tom O’Brien.

Tom, 37 years in the business, has no intentions of quitting.

“My options are always open. I’m only 52 years of age, I’ve done a lot of courses, I feel I have a lot to give.

“I never thought the biggest hotel in Ireland would ever close down.

“It’s all for the money again: 30 pieces of silver. It’s an awful pity it wasn’t a proper hotelier that bought the Burlington.

“I feel very sad, very bitter, about it. I worked with a crew here and I don’t know if I will see them again.”

Senior manager Peter Walsh, was struggling with the newness of locking the front door: “We’ve never been closed since the day it opened 35 years ago. The place was always going 24 hours every day.”

Host to social who’s who

FROM Bill and Hillary Clinton to 007 actor Pierce Brosnan, the Burlington played host to the top names.

Cork hurling and football teams made it their base when playing in Croke Park.

The country’s largest hotel when PV Doyle opened it in April 1972, it had the city’s first indoor swimming pool. Jurys hotel group bought out the Doyle hotel group in 1999. Last year the site was bought for almost €290 million by a consortium backed by property developer Bernard McNamara, who is expected to turn it into an office and residential complex. A total of 447 employees have been made redundant.