Top-class Munster eaterie and guest house, Aherne's Seafood Restaurant of Youghal,  is a €2m catch

Fitzgibbon family are three generations in upper echelons of the  hospitality sector but are selling up just before centenary

Legen in its own lunchtime: Aherne's Seafood Restaurant and townhouse guest accomodation business in Youghal has roots going back 99 years and is now quite the catch

ONE of the country’s best-known seafood restaurants and quality guest accommodation businesses, Aherne’s of Youghal, has been put up for sale, just before celebrating 100 years in same-family ownership.

Brothers David and Johnny Fitzgibbon with their wives Gaye and Katie at Aherne's Hotel & Seafood Restaurant Youghal, Co Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Coming to market after being run by three generations of the Fitzgibbon family is the thriving business on North Main St in the East Cork town by the River Blackwater and Cork-Waterford border.

It’s guided at €2m by estate agent Dominic Daly, who stresses that the landmark premises is being offered as a going concern and very much a consensual sale, by Fitzgibbon brothers Johnny and David, along with their wives Katie and Gaye.

The brothers, both now in their 60s, are seeking to retire from the day-to-day running of the substantial business, after taking over from their own parents in the early 1990s.

The business at 163 North Main St started in 1923 when Jimmy and Madge Aherne took over a tiny premises, ostensibly run by Madge as at the time. Jimmy was manager of the local labour exchange and thus precluded from having a private business.

The Ahernes passed the business to their daughter Betty, who married a Dubliner and Irish Army officer, Captain Gerry Fitzgibbon. The army link continued when their son Johnny also enlisted, making the same captain rank for a period before retiring early from the service, to take on serving the public more directly with his wife Katie, and brother David and his wife Gaye.

Great food at the great outdoors, one of a number of dining options at the extensive Youghal town property

They added the accommodation suites on an expanded site in the early 1990s, to a mansard roof design by architect Dominic O’Flynn, with a country house interior design and done by builder Jim Davis. The property has a C2 BER, an adjacent site with parking, glasshouse, and herb beds, and has scope to add up to 10 further bedrooms, says auctioneer Dominic Daly.

Formal dining room

One of the 14 suites and bedrooms at Aherne's

Highly rated by a number of guide books and winning many awards over three decades, the restaurant and townhouse luxury accommodation business with 14 large en suite bedrooms plus owners’ apartment is part of Ireland’s elite Blue Book network of country houses, manors, and top restaurants. The Blue Book’s voucher scheme is a key element of Ahernes’ strong turnover figures, the family says.

The business has continued to trade well throughout the Covid-19 crisis and will continue until a handover to new owners is made, assured Fitzgibbon brothers Johnny, front of house, and David, who is head chef. Annual recent turnover has been averaging €1.4m pa, trading typically over a five-day week, it’s indicated, with scope to boost that further over a seven-day operation.

Expressions of interest have already been shown by operators of higher-end hospitality businesses in Munster since word of a planned sale came late in 2021.

Now that it hits the open market, Aherne’s may be bought as an add-on/expansion of a brand or ‘name’, or by direct, experienced operators looking to scale up to a proven business.

The family say Youghal has continued to bounce back, with things like the Ironman giving the town extra profile and energy, and the success of the Waterford Greenway over the county border in Dungarvan has had an impact on their trade. They predict that the East Cork Greenway, along the old Cork-Youghal rail line, will boost Youghal’s profile and businesses in tandem.

Katie and Johnny Fitzgibbon at Aherne's cocktail Bar. Picture Dan Linehan

The property has an outdoor area capable of hosting 80 for special events (or outdoor dining), as well as having a 60-seat formal restaurant, 28-seat cocktail bar, 48-seat restaurant, 16-seat resident’s breakfast room, and residents’ drawing room with antique fireplace.

Among the many original artworks lining the walls, is a framed letter from then Taoiseach Jack Lynch in 1970, thanking Capt and Mrs Fitzgibbon of Ahern’s Vintners for their hospitality.

A note from former Taoiseach Jack Lynch at Aherne's Hotel & Seafood Restaurant Youghal, Co Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Other patrons down the decades included political leaders, entertainment figures from Ireland and abroad, sporting legends from GAA, rugby, and horse racing — but names are not willingly disclosed by the discreet hosts and “some had to be put to bed after a good night’s visit.”

DETAILS: Dominic Daly, 021-4277399