Barrett to spend €118m on two new five-star hotels

Property developer and hotelier Gerry Barrett plans to spend more than €118 million on two new five-star hotels in Dublin and London that will be modelled on The G, his five-star Galway property, writes Simon Carswell,Finance Correspondent

In an interview with The Irish Times, the Galway developer said Edward Holdings, his parent company, would spend €55 million on the Dublin hotel located on Grand Canal Dock near the south quays and a further €63.5 million (£45 million) converting the historic Bow Street police and magistrates' court near Covent Garden into a hotel with 90 bedrooms.

Former inmates of Bow Street, which Mr Barrett purchased in 2005, include Oscar Wilde, Roger Casement and the Kray Twins.

Mr Barrett said he was in talks with Irish designer Philip Treacy, who developed the interiors for The G, to design the Dublin and London hotels.

Mr Barrett was speaking on the second anniversary of the opening of The G, in which he has invested €45 million.

He dismissed as "unfounded" rumours that have circulated this year about The G being in difficulty or being relocated to another of his hotels, the Meyrick (formerly the Great Southern) on Eyre Square in Galway, or to Ashford Castle, the Co Mayo five-star hotel he bought for €50 million in September.

He said he was expanding the events room at The G. He hoped to open his new Dublin hotel, which will have 167 bedrooms and 17 suites, at the end of next year and the London hotel by Easter 2009.

Mr Barrett, a former teacher, has appointed a new board at his Monogram Hotels group. The new directors include Ashford Castle's general manager Niall Rochford, who will be in charge of operations, and Mr Barrett's son David, who will manage development.

Mr Barrett said he wanted to develop the operational side of The G and to use Ashford's staff to grow sales and marketing at the group, which also owns The D in Drogheda.

Barrett is adding an extra 190,000 sq ft of retail space to Scotch Hall, his shopping centre in Drogheda, as well as a cinema and 150 more apartments, which will be completed in late 2009.