Cork landmark Bunnyconnellan’s back in business after storm

They were poised to reopen on Saturday, with diners confirmed, staff rostered, and food and stock ordered in.

But just hours before the ovens were due to be fired up, they lost water, followed a short time later by the power again.

Today, hopefully, will be the first normal day of business in a week for management and staff at Bunnyconnellan’s, one of Cork’s landmark bars and restaurants, after both electricity and water were finally restored yesterday.

“My family’s been running Bunny’s for 42 years, and in that time, we may have had to close for a day or two here and there, mainly due to bad ice on the roads. So this has been a serious hit,” said owner Paul O’Brien.

Known as Bunny’s, the famous bar and restaurant perched high on cliffs overlooking the mouth of Cork Harbour bore the full brunt of Ophelia’s hurricane-force winds last Monday.

Mr O’Brien said the areas around Myrtleville, Fountainstown and Crosshaven were badly hit, with dozens of trees and poles knocked down.

The winds caused structural damage to Bunny’s roof and a section of its scenic beer garden was lost to the forces of nature.

But it was the loss of power, followed by the loss of water, which hit the business hardest and forced its closure for more than a week.

“Structurally, the damage could have been worse — a lot worse,” Mr O’Brien said.

“The weather was the worst I’ve seen. It’s been very, very frustrating. The hardest part of this has been having to accept that it was all completely beyond our control.”

As well as losing its regular lunchtime and evening trade, the restaurant was unable to host several large functions, graduation dinners, and birthday parties which had been booked in weeks or months in advance.

“At first it was one day, then a second day, but pretty soon, the days blended and we were into day five and day six,” Mr O’Brien said.

“I’m sure there are people out there who are worse off, but it’s just been so frustrating.

“We got the power back on Saturday and we were all set to reopen, but then we lost water, and then we lost power again.

“You just to have drive on with it. But it has been very frustrating.”

He said their customers have been very patient and understanding, and the restaurant is still trying to cope with an intermittent phone service - one of the lines was up and running yesterday, the other was very patchy.

“We are due to reopen today and my attitude now is ‘let’s just drive on with it, and get back to daily life,” Mr O’Brien said.