And The Horse You Rode In On

The Horse!

t’s been one of Wicklow’s most popular drinking holes since it first opened its doors in 1790.

And a move welcomed by many last month, owners Mark and Mary Molloy announced that there probably wasn’t enough rooms at the inn.

So, they were going to add to their 8 existing guest rooms by building 27 more out the back. Along with an underground car park.

Given that we have a distinct lack of hotels in Greystones and Delgany, the move made a lot of sense to just about everybody.

Just about. We’ve just gotten an anonymous missive from a concerned resident of the neighbouring Hunter’s Brook estate.

And they’d like us to share their concerns…

Firstly, we were officially informed about the proposed new building by the rather curt expedient of a planning notice stuck to a wall inside our estate. A notice informing us that a one-way system would be implemented for the new buildings, forcing any cars to enter the parking bays via the existing entrance to the pub, but to exit using a new route through a wall in our estate and out through our roadway.

Aside from the size of this development, which will virtually eliminate the afternoon sun from all the houses on one side of the estate and ensure that the revellers who are using the new upstairs, outside terrace can gaze down on the residents in our estate from on high, this idea of using our estate as an exit for those very revellers has caused shock and outrage in The Brook.

There are a number of families with small children living in our small estate and the idea of outside traffic using our narrow (and busy as it already is) road is quite horrifying. Our estate was constructed as apartments and not classified as houses, and the roadway is narrow enough to cause the bin lorries to have to reverse out of the estate after collections – so, the idea of even more traffic using this roadway seems outright dangerous.

As yet, we have not had any official contact from any of the owners of The Horse, but we have managed to get copies of the drawings for the development from Wicklow County Council. A car park (probably underground) and three stories above that… three! The rooms apparently won’t have windows overlooking The Brook, but they will be built right next to the boundary wall of number 20.

I wonder how a new construction like the one proposed can in any way be described as fitting in with the small village centre that is here at present. True, there are many more houses being shoe-horned into the village, but not bang-slap in the middle. And three stories high!

I just want to let people know about the feelings of the residents in Hunter’s Brook, who feel totally abused by this plan. The owners would have people believe that they would like to put a hotel of sorts into the area, because there simply isn’t one anywhere near at present and it would be good for the local economy. Nuts!

I would suggest that they might just be doing this, because it makes good financial sense for themselves and bugger the consequences – and their near neighbours.

Here’s hoping a happy, common and shared ground can be found here. As always, two sides to every story – and storey.