West Cork restaurant could again become a fine family residence

WILL it be a case of back to basics, and the way it was, at the one-time west Cork home of billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond?

Up for sale in the chic west Cork village of Baltimore is the Customs House, run as a star restaurant in the past few years by a US/Irish couple, and now seriously reduced in price from €700,000 to €400,000 – which puts it within the grasp of private buyers who may use it as a townhouse. It is right in the heart of the village, almost in the shadow of the well-restored Baltimore castle, now a privately-owned house.

Decades ago, Customs House was, for a while, the family home of Dermot Desmond, the man who was very largely behind the rise of Dublin’s IFSC. Desmond’s own background is usually more associated with his home town of Macroom, but his father worked for the Customs Service, and spent some time in Baltimore, in this house. Might some financial good luck rub off on the next owners?

The Customs House was put up for sale as a business base and venture back in August 2008, but failed to find a buyer prepared to bite at that level. Awards like Michael Bib Gourmands, which it had secured in 2007 and 2008, clearly attach to the chef, not the premises.

Estate agent Maeve McCarthy of Charles P McCarthy in Skibbereen says it would be a relatively easy job to switch back to private residential use, and to take the restaurant ‘look’ off the place.

There’s about 1,800 sq ft of space, four overhead bedrooms (two with attractive bay windows,) shower room and bathroom, and the main ground floor space is open plan, and adaptable and easy to sub-divide, while the kitchen is definitely at the ‘commercial’ end of the scale.

There’s also a fairly basic rear sun room tacked on, and the back yard has a kitchen garden and car access.