At night in Kilkenny, anyone who's not in bed is in Langton's. Gemma Tipton meets 'Mr Kilkenny', Eamon Langton, whose family's pub-restaurant-hotel chain has brought the designer gastropub to new heights in the Marble City
Late one foggy night, on a trip to Kilkenny, we were out and looking for somewhere to go. The bars had long closed, and the streets were deserted. Turning a darkened corner, we bravely asked a figure lurking in an alley were we might find a final pint. "Langton's," he said. Without feeling very hopeful we ventured on, wondering what we might discover. Langton's, it turned out, had an ordinary-looking frontage on John Street that led into the most wonderful (and enormous) series of bars imaginable. That night in Kilkenny it seemed that anyone who wasn't in bed was in Langton's.
Returning to Langton's in sober daylight, the main bar areas are still stunning. So are the restaurant, the ballroom and even the smoking area, an oasis-like pavilion set on a roof terrace. Kilkenny is a heritage city, and it isn't short of pubs, largely in the traditional-Victorian style. But Langton's is different. With the bar's rich tones of walnut and red leather, there is a 1920s feel to the place, which also manages to carry off a contemporary edge. "If you go to New York or London," says Eamon Langton, its owner, "there are so many Irish pubs. We've almost lost our identity by overplaying it, and I was looking for something different."
Langton grew up in the business, in one of Kilkenny's oldest families. Originally, when Langton's was a much smaller bar, he lived above it with his parents. He has been expanding it ever since he came in to the business, in 1975. Langton's bar, restaurant and hotel form one part of the empire of Langton, his wife Trish, and their three children: 29-year-old Eddie, 28-year-old Conor and 25-year-old Tracy. The Marble City Bar and Carrigan's Liquor Bar complete the set. "Three bars for three kids," jokes Eddie. "If he'd had another child he'd have had to open another bar." All the Langton children have been away - Eddie to London, Conor to New York and Tracy to Jersey - but they have all come back to the family business. "It's like we're on elastic," they smile.
Despite their size, the front bar and restaurant of Langton's aren't overwhelming. "It's all to do with getting the atmosphere, the feel and the flow right," says Langton. "Even when it is empty you want to feel relaxed and comfortable." With this in mind, he enlisted David Collins Architecture & Design, a London firm that has worked on such projects as Gordon Ramsay's Pétrus, the Blue Bar at the Berkeley (described as "earth-shatteringly chic" by Glamour magazine), the Wolseley restaurant and the bar at Claridge's. "There comes a point where your own ideas and influences will only go so far, and you need a fresh input. I had been having dinner in London," he says, referring to a visit to the fish restaurant J. Sheekey, "and I asked them who had done their design. When they said it was David Collins, I called, there and then."
Simon Rollington at David Collins says: "Our relationship started about six or seven years ago, when he left a message on our machine in the middle of the night." Langton's children back up the account. "When the phone rings in the middle of the night," says Conor, "you know it's Dad with another idea."
Langton has a reputation for being restless, and his bars seem to be in a continuous process of change and redesign. Influenced by his travels, he has been particularly impressed by Philippe Starck's hotels, by bars such as Pastis and Balthazar in New York and by the Clarence in Dublin. Langton is also an admirer of Pierce Tynan, the Kilkenny-born designer responsible for many of the bars owned by Jay Bourke and Eoin Foyle, such as Bodega in Cork and the Front Lounge, the Market Bar and the Globe in Dublin. "When I first saw the Front Lounge I thought, this is a new feel, a new kind of bar. I really liked it."
Does Langton ever have ideas that are too big for him? "I'm inclined to do them," he shrugs. "I feel that if an idea is hitting you on a regular basis you have to go for it. I love change. You need to keep looking at things."
So what about the changes mooted for Kilkenny itself? One plan is for a new arts centre and museum. "The Design Centre plus the castle are huge attractions in Kilkenny. The castle is one of the top five attractions in Ireland. There is a potential for development, but for sensible development," he says. "It's important to have new hotels and new shops, but you don't want to over-expand. Your base becomes too big then, and you lose yourself. The first change I would make would be to pedestrianise High Street. Dublin city would be a relaxed drive after Kilkenny."
In such an atmospheric and historic city, some changes are less welcome than others. Initially, one of these was Langton's revamp of the Marble City Bar. "The Marble City was a very old-fashioned pub, but not in a sense that I'd appreciate. It was very run-down. It had actually been owned by an uncle of mine, some years back, but the changes hadn't been in keeping. It wasn't typical of a good bar. But, to be fair, our changes were a little dramatic. People took a while to adjust. I was almost asked to leave town." Now, like Carrigan's, the Marble City is popular and crowded, serving excellent food throughout the day.
In a style that Langton describes as French-American, Carrigan's has the feel of a chic speakeasy, and it is introducing Kilkenny to the louche atmosphere created by cocktails and jazz. A diner-style menu is available until early evening, when the cocktails fully kick in. There is a lovely feel to Carrigan's, and Langton insists it's one bar he's not planning to change. His next venture is the Marble City Tearooms, a cafe due to open at the back of the bar later this month.
So does Langton have any time for the traditional? Tynan's Bridge House is a favourite. The Victorian bar, on St John's Bridge, is one of the finest in the country, he says. And so, in a different way, are the bars the Langton family are giving to their city.
www.langtons.ie