Great Optics: Waterford home with own bar and games room for €565,000

Catherine Shanahan

48 Kings Court

Waterford City
€565,000
Size	320 sq m/3444 sq ft
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	C2

GIVEN its owners are in the drinks trade, it seems fitting that nothing was done by half measures at 48 Kings Court.

From the antique rosewood parquet floor salvaged from the former Irish Sweepstakes building, to the 40 sq m snooker room, to the ability to pull a pint in the comfort of your own home — Declan and Claire Brady invested heavily in creating the kind of home visitors must surely gravitate to, with plenty indoor and outdoor space to entertain.

48 Kings Court Sun Room

She had put her dream on hold to get the off-licence off the ground.

“We were only married a year and Claire, whose background is at the highest level of equestrian management, was working in one of the top yards in Dublin.

“She’d be gone to work at 6am every day and I wouldn’t get home until 2am.” (Declan was running Bradys’ Bar in Waterford).

Something had to give and as both had a passion for wine, they decided to turn their energies towards building up a top-class off-liicence and, in 2001, Worldwide Wines was born.

Within a year of opening, it took the title of best off-licence in Munster and the accolades have poured in since.

Housed in a building that was formerly a 1960s icecream parlour with polished wood, gleaming brass and leather finish, Declan says “There’s no shop like it in the country in terms of the high spec finish and the style”.

He says the same high-spec approach was taken to their home where rooms have undergone regular upgrades since it was built in 2000 and where a side and rear extension increased the square footage from the original 1,850 sq ft to almost 3,500 sq ft. Included in the extension was a fabulous 300 sq ft conservatory which leads to a landscaped west-facing garden and an outdoor courtyard entertainment space that includes room for dining or for lounging or for taking a dip in a hot tub, with no fear of being overlooked.

Declan is particularly pleased with the conservatory which has three big skylights and an air con unit to keep things temperate and plenty room for family functions, which can spill into the courtyard, or if the weather is intemperate, there’s always two reception rooms or the games room with full size snooker table and that solid teak bar counter where pints are on draft, installed by a Master Fitter who fitted bars all over the world, Declan says.

Around the games room walls are various bits of memorabilia, including golfer Pádraig Harrington’s first Ryder Cup jersey, reflecting Declan’s passion for golf.

Not quite fitting the profile of ‘memorabilia’ but a throwback nonetheless to times past, is the antique rosewood parquet floor in the double-height hallway.

“I found it in the famous Salvage Shop in Waterford,” Declan says.

“The family that runs it, the Corcorans, were responsible for a lot of the bar fit-outs around the place and I used to call there occasionally for a gander.

“I was in there one day and spotted the parquet. They told me they had just cleared out the old Sweepstakes building (in Dublin’s Ballsbridge). So that’s where the hall floor came from.”

 Declan is torn about the upcoming move.

“I'm more of a city person. I always envisaged myself laid out here, with everyone filtering through to pay their respects and having a few drinks in the bar along the way.

“If we had the space to breed horses here, I would never move.” 

The amount of space at 48 Kings Court, Kings Channel is greater than any of its neighbours in the cul de sac, where it has prime position vis-a-vis proximity to the nearby glorious Kings Channel riverwalk.

That space allows for a really decent home-office, and not just a laptop in the boxroom. It also has four bathrooms and five bedrooms, including a Master bedroom that selling agent Margaret Fogarty of Remax says is ‘five-star’ level. It includes a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite with steam room and rolltop bath.

“With the newly-reduced price this truly is amazing value per square foot for this part of Waterford city,” Margaret says.

“In fact I would say it’s the very best value in Waterford per square foot.” 

Declan reckons so too. They put their "heart and soul" into keeping the shop going during the Recession he says, and he loved coming home to relax. The house that they are moving to - Declan, Claire and their two kids - will be nearer the coast, just outside the village of Dunmore East. And it will have that all-important piece of land to accommodate horses.

Whoever buys No 48 - most likely a family looking to trade up - will never be short of space to entertain, once entertaining is back on the agenda again. 

VERDICT: Great optics. Sets the bar high in terms of family homes.