By Claire Corrigan
The directors of impressive Middleton Park House, Castletown-Geoghegan – built in 1820 – which was used as a hotel in recent decades and has been a popular and exclusive wedding venue in the past half dozen years, hosting up to 80 weddings annually, announced in the past week that the venue was being closed immediately, with couples who had booked for receptions or weddings receptions advised to make alternative arrangements.
The announced closure has added further to the controversy generated in the past two months around Middleton Park House, after couples who had the venue booked found it difficult to discover what was happening. The property was closed, apparently for renovations, at the end of December, and the staff working there at the time were let go.
Up to 18 weddings were stated to be booked in at the venue between April, 2016 and mid- 2017. Some clients became alarmed, while others got notifications that any rumours circulating were untrue and that all bookings would be honoured.
Last Friday, however, Gerard Lynam, the Director of Fredel Ltd., trading as Middleton Park House, issued a statement saying they had decided “with deep regret” to close Middleton Park House.
“The premises require substantial work to comply with a fire enforcement notice; the resources are not available to do this, despite the best efforts of Fredel Ltd., and as a consequence, the company has become insolvent, and will cease trading immediately.”
The company had no cash or realiable assets, the statement also said.
Couples with the venue booked were advised to make alternative arrangements for their wedding receptions.
In interviews on radio stations in recent days, when questioned about the matter, Mr. Lynam confirmed the closure, and said that seven employees had lost their jobs and 30 casual staff were affected. He claimed that the reason for the venue closure was due to the fire services notice, and claimed unfair treatment. They were unable to comply with the fire enforcement notice, despite their best efforts, he said.
CLOSURE NOTICE
When Westmeath Topic sought this week to verify the statement about the fire enforcement notice, and contacted Westmeath’s Chief Fire Officer, Dave Stewart, he confirmed that they had inspected Middleton Park House in September, 2015, and informed the management of the various things that needed to be done. They undertook to comply and do the work, but when they returned, the work had not been done, and an official closure notice, under the Fire regulations, was served in November. There were then discussions between the legal people on both sides, and the venue was allowed to continue temporarily so that wedding receptions up to the end of the year could take place, on the basis that additional precautions were taken.
Asked about the fact that wedding receptions had been taking place there over the past number of years, Mr. Stewart said that once they inspected the premises in September last, they were obliged to take the action they did and inform the company what was required.
The Chief Fire Officer said that he had never spoken personally to Mr. Lynam, who he understood was in Singapore. The people at Middleton Park had not come back to them to indicate what the situation was or if the necessary work was carried out, or indicating what they were doing.
Asked if the work needed to comply with fire regulations involved substantial costs, he said it would probably be costly enough.
“We are still hoping that the place will be sorted out as it is a fine building,” he said.
DISASTER FOR CLIENTS
From the viewpoint of the couples planning receptions at the Westmeath venue, the closure news is the culmination of months of uncertainty and annoyance. For six weeks or so, Topic has been contacted by couples, and asked to find out what was happening, but getting firm facts about the real situation was very difficult – other than seeing the building closed, with no staff there since the start of 2016, and reading some of the emails sent to couples, assuring them Middleton Park House would re-open in April.
Couples with their wedding receptions booked, since 2014 in some cases, and with deposits of up to €4,000 paid, were unable make contact with the Westmeath venue since January, and were left without any avenues for discovering what was happening. The situation was causing some couples a great deal of anxiety, while others had decided to get an alternative venue.
A former member of the Middleton Park House staff told Topic over a month ago, that all 25 plus people employed there up to the end of December were let go on 2 January last and they did not know what was happening. It had been stated renovations were to take place.
A notice appeared on the Middleton Park Facebook page in January stating that the venue was closing for six weeks, for renovations, but after that, no one to whom we spoke was able to get in touch with them. The last entry on the Facebook page was on 9 January last, it appears.
A POPULAR VENUE
Middleton Park House has been a popular wedding venue over recent years, having been developed by Mr. Lynam, who carried out extensive work on the property in 2006. Three years later in 2009, permission was sought for a €1.5m upgrade of Middleton Park House, to cater for up to 170 guests, with 13 additional bedrooms, from 16 to 29, extended kitchens, etc., mostly involving the conversion of existing space in the house and using a wing of the building not then in use.
The property was put up for sale as a going concern in 2014, and reportedly sold for €1m. Mr. Lynam continued as managing director of the company running it, Fredel Ltd., and it traded successfully in 2015, we understand.
According to Gerard Lynam, the venue was closed for the necessary renovations, mainly involving the fire regulations, described as “essential fire safety work” and asserted that the wedding venue would re-open in April, in time for all wedding bookings. However, they were unable to comply with what was sought.
The statement issued last week to couples who had the venue booked, said that “Middleton Park House, which is not owned by Fredel Ltd. is not expected to reopen in the near term, and is likely to be sold to a third party shortly.”
Mr. Lynam also stated in an interview that the house “will not reopen for a long time, if at all.” He said refunds were unlikely, as Fredel Ltd. have no cash or assets.
During an interview on Radio 4fm, when challenged as to how couples were treated, Mr. Lynam claimed they fully intended to re open the venue, but were unable do so.
He also told the interviewer he (Mr. Lynam) “would be dead in fourteen weeks” because of an ongoing serious illness, and said he had to take morphine while on air. When speaking on the programme, he appeared heavily medicated.
DUE TO RE OPEN
When Topic made enquiries more than a month ago, we were informed when we finally managed to make contact by phone with Middleton Park that it is “still a going concern, and should be opened again in April.”
“The wedding end of the business has been temporarily closed since early January, and we’ve cut back on staff,” the unidentified spokesperson stated. “The hotel should be opened in April. There are renovations taking place, especially fire alarm systems, and other odds and ends. No weddings will be affected,” he claimed.
Topic understands that in recent weeks, former members of the staff of Middleton Park House were asked to attend a meeting, and told that the venue was reopening under new management, and that their jobs would be available to them. Two weeks ago, when Topic spoke by phone to a person who identified himself as Thomas Grey, security manager, he said he understood the lease on Middleton was up on 1 April next, and was going to be renewed.
LEFT IN THE DARK
For couples unable to get any information since early January, however, the situation was chaotic, and because of this, some cancelled their wedding plans, and others were going elsewhere. Others asked if they will get deposits back, having paid up to €4,000 in advance.
Paul McAnaney from Killucan booked the venue in January 2014 for his wedding. “We had been at a wedding there and liked it. We gave them the deposit and met them a few times since, but we’ve had no word since September.”
After being informed that the staff had received their P45s, Paul tried to contact the venue again. “We tried to ring but there was no answer and when we sent emails, it kept saying the email account had been deactivated or something like that. We’re trying to find somewhere else now. They’re saying everything is fine, but obviously everything is not fine.”
“We would have been happy enough if told earlier, instead of just being fobbed off,” he told us several weeks ago.
He said only a week go, he got an email apologising for the difficulty in communication, was told Middleton Park House closes annually for 6 to 12 weeks, and that it would reopen in April, and all bookings would be honoured.
Topic heard similar stories from half a dozen other people whose receptions were to take place there, and some were left in very difficult situations, with guests travelling from across the world, and the church in Castletown- Geoghegan booked for the wedding, and other arrangements they could not change. In at least one case, a couple, whose wedding is due in May, are at present desperately trying to find an alternative venue for their big day.
