My Greystones: Brendan Crotty

For a certain generation of Greystonians, there are golden moments in the town’s not-too-distant history that will always have a hold on us…

For some, it’s a life-changing kiss down at the harbour bus shelter; for others, it’s trying to go Full West Side Story with native Kilcoolers at the P&R disco up in Kilian’s Hall.

Or maybe it’s queuing up for what seemed like days to get into the Rugby Club’s annual New Year’s Eve disco, or just spending your entire afternoon looking at all the toy cars lined up in the La Touche shop window.

For many, many Greystonians of a certain age today though, the biggest backdrop to those formative years was The La Touche Hotel, standing like a monument to the town’s history, a totem pole visible from every hill for miles around,  Greystones’ own Mount Rushmore. From the green out the back – with the best drinking view in town – to that dirty big bar counter, that potent little function room – where many a party cherry was popped – to the 38 hotel rooms upstairs (three floors where many a famous guest stayed overnight, including, of course, Michael Collins), the La Touche Hotel was many things to many party people.

The person responsible for The La Touche Hotel’s last truly golden run, through those heady 1980s, was Brendan Crotty, a man who knew a fine building when he saw one, and was willing to put in the ridiculous hours in to keep it that way.

All this love and attention for a Greystones landmark from a feckin’ blow-in. Nice.

Hailing all the way from deepest, darkest Mullinavat in County Kilkenny, Brendan Crotty had seen the world before taking up his important missionary post in Greystones. It was whilst living in the States for 15 years that he met the beautiful Liza, a young lass from Longford, the two finding each other, fittingly enough, in the city that gave us the Summer Of Love, San Francisco. It was here that the couple got married, in 1965, making the move back to Ireland in 1968, to raise a family, and finding just the right place to do so in 1971, when Brendan and Liz settled in Greystones.

Their house on South Place in The Burnaby was soon a full one, with first – and favourite – child Martin followed swiftly by Mary, Brendan Jr and, lastly and leastly, Paul. Naturally, with so many kids running around the house, Brendan Snr saw the need to go find a job that would offer up  a little time and space to himself, and so took over The La Touche Hotel in 1982. This would be a home away from home for the entire family for the following seven years. And it plainly planted the seed for Mary, as she and hubby Mark have now taken over another local institution, The Horse & Hound.

Today, Brendan and Liz are surrounded by not only their four kids, but 10 grandchildren too. And a bunch of neighbours who, as their annual street party has proven, are pretty much just an extended family to one another.

So, here’s to you, young Brendan Crotty. Thanks for giving The La Touche Hotel some glorious, obliviously happy years, before greed and stupidity checked in. You did a beautiful job. Almost as good a job as you and Liz did with those kids…

You can check out The La Touche Hotel here, and more My Greystones stars right about here.