Francis Brennan: 'People ask me if I get sad passing the hotel but I'm still nearby'

Home Editor Eve Kelliher talks to the hotelier, author and designer about interiors, travel and happy spaces

Hotelier, author, television presenter and homeware and interiors designer Francis Brennan.

A conversation with Francis Brennan is like having a fun, fabulous natter with your best friend — there’s a surreal serendipity about it.

Perhaps it’s because we’re chatting to one another in Kerry, albeit at either end of the phone, one in Kenmare from his luxury apartment on the grounds of the hotel he ran for over four decades and the other from Killarney.

Francis has just touched down on Irish soil the previous night having been on a Mediterranean cruise.

A veteran of the RTÉ One travel series Francis Brennan’s Grand Tour, one of the many television shows he’s fronted, he has been the hero of the hour whisking his travel companions from runway to plane on wheelchairs and buggies with moments to spare. “I’m 71 now. I’ve retired but, listen: I haven’t minute,” he says.

Francis Brennan's range for Dunnes Stores started with bedlinen.

“I never had a dog. I travel too much. A poor old dog would get lost in the middle of it all. Last night, when I came home from travelling it was 20 past 11 when I came into the house.” Home is one of the 18 apartments on the grounds of the Park Hotel in Kenmare, which he formerly owned with his brother and fellow hospitality guru John Brennan.

The popular venue was sold to Irish businessman and social entrepreneur Bryan Meehan for an undisclosed sum last November. “I’m on the top; I hate the word penthouse,” says Francis of his apartment.

“I’m still on the grounds of the hotel. People ask me if I get sad passing it [the hotel] but I’m still nearby, I don’t have to leave [Kenmare]. I know where the post office is, I know where everything is. My other house, which was sold, was 11 miles down the bay. [When I lived there] I would leave the keys in the hotel with someone in case of an emergency. Now when I come home, I’m in Kenmare and I’m home. It’s like a dream after 42 years.” Both the Park and the Lansdowne, another Kenmare town-centre hotel that the brothers owned, had come on the market the previous May with a combined price guide of €20.5m via agents CBRE.

The 28-bed Lansdowne is on Main Street, Kenmare, and is one of the town’s oldest buildings, dating to 1790, when it was built as the town residence of William Petty Fitzmaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (who designed the heritage Kerry town).

Towels and other luxury hotel-inspired items from the Francis Brennan collection for Dunnes Stores.

The Brennans bought it in January 2021 and it achieved Fáilte Ireland four-star status in 2022.

Does Francis have a favourite or “happy” perch in his apartment? “I have a lovely balcony, a really big balcony,” says Francis. “Right now, I’m looking out at all the trees and the spire of the Protestant church.” Creating cosy and comfy spaces will be the topic his fans will be keen to hear about when they flock to meet him at the PTSB Ideal Home Show this weekend as it returns to the RDS Simmonscourt from October 18-20.

Also among presenters and hosts at the Ideal Home Show are content creator Caoimhe McGinley and architect and TV star Hugh Wallace who will be at the DFS Interiors Theatre, hosted by journalist and sustainability advocate Jo Linehan and featuring an array of top industry experts, influential creatives and leading interior designers, including Pippa Jameson, bestselling author of The Sensory Home.

Content creator Caoimhe McGinley, of the Big Hill House Instagram account and architect and TV presenter Hugh Wallace will be at the DFS Interiors Theatre at the Ideal Home Show.

Francis will be at the show on Saturday, October 19, and Sunday, October 20, at the Dunnes Stores Pavilion.

This is Francis’s first foray to the Ideal Home Show where he will be teaming up with celebrity chef Neven Maguire. “They said I’d be cooking. I said: Listen, I don’t cook, Neven will do the cooking and I’ll slice a carrot at most,” he says.

This is a man after my own heart. He doesn’t like to slave over a hot stove and, wait for it, he doesn’t even have a dining table in his apartment. How delicious is that for logic? “I have a kitchen counter but that’s all. There are fabulous restaurants on our doorstep,” he says, in his signature no-nonsense style. “If I’ve people down staying with me we always go out to somewhere like Dromquinna or the Limetree.” His brother John owns Dromquinna. “It’s a hugely popular wedding venue and lovely boathouse. I personally have nothing to do with Dromquinna, it’s all John and his son Adam,” says Francis.

There is one household chore he enjoys. “I love ironing,” he says. “I start with a pile of clothes and I fold my shirts.” Is he a fan of Marie Kondo’s famous folding method? “Listen, I’m doing it long before she was ever heard of!” says Francis. “I don’t know one thing about Marie Kondo. People are always talking about her! I button a shirt up and I fold it and I put it in the wardrobe and they’re all in the wardrobe ready for me to grab when I’m travelling. I can be ready at a minute’s notice. You can say: ‘We’re off to Hong Kong at 4.30pm’ — and I’ll be ready.” Back to fast flits in and out of Kerry and that obsession for any Munster dweller comes up immediately: The N22 Macroom bypass. “The New Road — sure it’s brilliant. We travel so much via Cork Airport now,” he says. “And I don’t know why everyone in Killarney doesn’t drive to Dublin via Cork. Otherwise, you’re going to Newcastle West via Adare and Abbeyfeale.” So how did Francis become a Kerry man? “When I left college, Cathal Brugha Street, I went to work Parknasilla (Great Southern Hotel, Sneem, Co Kerry) for two years, then the Victoria Hotel in Cork for two years and then came back to Kenmare.” He is the consummate ambassador for the town he regards as having its own “soul”. “The reason Kenmare is so special is it was designed by Sir William Petty,” he says. “He created the triangle [format]. If you go down the street, it’s a perfect triangle. The town has held its authentic shape and size. All the development is outside the town.” Francis himself is super-organised, as viewers of shows like RTÉ’s At Your Service will know. His diary is full and the seasoned hotelier is also launching his new nightwear and Christmas collections at Dunnes Stores at the end of this month.

Francis Brennan's range for Dunnes Stores started with bedlinen.

Francis’s entire hotel-inspired range has been tempting design and homeware lovers for six years now. It was businesswoman Margaret Heffernan of the famous retail family who prompted — or perhaps cajoled — Francis to create his iconic collection. “Margaret stays at the [Park] hotel. She loves the linen. At first, I said, Oh no, Margaret, I’m not interested then three years later she came back and said: ‘Come on now, Francis.’” The rest is history. The range now includes, as Francis says “lamps and crockery — loads of things! Linen is a huge seller, all the time,” says Francis.

What would Francis save from his own home in a fire? “My diaries,” he says immediately. “I have all my diaries since 1966. I write about what I did that day, who I met, or where I went,” he says.

Even if he’s exhausted? “Yes. When I come to write a book or anything I can absolutely refer to, for instance, 18 of June 1995,” says Francis, who has in recent years penned several hugely popular books, including Age is Just A Number.

It all comes down to discipline. “I get into bed — sometimes I’ll be exhausted but I do it. I’d give out to myself If I didn’t,” he says.

A cinephile, Francis adored Oppenheimer, starring Oscar-winning Cork actor Cillian Murphy and when in London or New York would often catch three films in one day. “I never get to movies here so I make up for it when I’m away!” he says.

So, who could he envisage playing him on the silver screen? Without missing a beat, Francis cites funnyman Mario Rosenstock: “Only because Mario does me so well on the radio. My [now-late] mother said to me one day: ‘What were you doing on the radio yesterday? You were acting the eejit!’ So, if he could fool my mother!” Mario is likely to see me if he looks behind him — because I want to be Francis Brennan too when I grow up.

• The PTSB Ideal Home Show is at the RDS Simmonscourt from October 18-20. Francis Brennan will be at the show on Saturday, October 19, and Sunday, October 20. Tickets for the PTSB Ideal Home Show are available at idealhome.ie