Rosita Bolandstays at Hotel Meyrick in Galway
IT’S NOW CALLED the Meyrick, but it will probably be a long time before that name sticks. For more than 150 years Galway’s landmark hotel on Eyre Square, abutting the city’s train and bus station, was variously known as the Railway Hotel and the Great Southern Hotel. The Meyrick is a weirdly un-Galway kind of name, one you’d associate more with a new hotel in London than with a west-of-Ireland piece of social history.
Anyway, I arrived at the Meyrick for an impromptu family gathering in the way that passengers have been arriving for generations – by train. It’s a two-minute walk from platform to reception desk – less if you go through the door at the end of the station. You can hardly check in with less stress than that.
The hotel’s foyer, reception and dining room make a dramatic statement with a series of dark wallpaper, gold paint, chequerboard floor tiles and fiercely shining chandeliers. But it’s the black walls that overpower everything else. You have to be very brave to put black on the walls of a public space, in frequently rainy Ireland, because it makes for a gloomy interior, even during daylight.
It was a relief to discover that this decorative theme does not continue on the bedroom floors, which are done in white and pale green, with Galway-themed prints and paintings. Also, instead of the narrow corridors now common in so many modern hotels, the bedroom floors have generous lobby-type spaces, with pretty flower-strewn patterned carpets, that are almost nicer than the lobby downstairs.
My room had a great view of a bustling Eyre Square, and was a fair size, done out in neutral colours, with atmospheric prints of fishing scenes in Connemara.
But why is it that curtains in so many hotels, including the Meyrick, are anchored to the railing, meaning you can’t pull them all the way across? They just make the room darker.
The plain bathroom was on the functional side, with a randomly huge corner bath and an efficient shower.
My parents, who were staying for a few days on one of the hotel’s midweek offers, had a vast and beautiful room they loved, especially the long blue silk velvet curtains that would have easily furnished a theatre.
Formerly, this hotel had a well-known swimming pool on the top floor, with views out over Galway Bay, but this has been replaced with a gym, spa and health club. I headed up before breakfast to check out the advertised outdoor Canadian hot tub, but a sign said it was out of order, so no aquatic opportunities there.
The Oyster Grill restaurant is a rather old-fashioned but lovely space, of the kind that lets you know you’re in a hotel whose walls are layered in stories.
It doesn’t feel corporate, as the restaurants in so many new hotels do. The tables are nicely spread out, so you’re not on top of your neighbours, with pristine white linen that you could never imagine maintaining in your own home. A charming detail is the fact that the teapots are original, each engraved with GSH, for Great Southern Hotels.
The breakfast menu promised cheese and cold meats. “The following items are available from our buffet, so please help yourself,” it read. When I looked, however, there was no sign of the cheeses or cold meats. I was told that there have to be at least 60 people for breakfast before they bring these out. Why put them on the menu, then?
The absent items were cold food, so they wouldn’t have needed to be cooked to order, and no guests like to feel that they’re getting a poorer deal than others.
What was on offer was very good: properly fresh fruit salad, berries, yoghurt, excellent dense brown bread and a selection of little pastries. The poached eggs I ordered were perfectly done, and coffee was also good. Service was attentive and pleasant. And as we were beside the train station I had the pleasure of lingering over breakfast with my parents until 10 minutes before my train departed.
WhereHotel Meyrick, Eyre Square, Galway, 091-564041, hotelmeyrick.ie.
WhatFour-star hotel that has operated under different owners for almost 160 years.
Rooms97, including executive suites, which have a living room, dining area and dressing room, and a private entrance to the spa and health club.
Best ratesTwo nights' midweek B&B, with dinner one night, from €119.50pps. Same deal plus a hot-stone back massage from €164.50pps. Three nights' midweek B&B, with dinner on two nights, from €219pps. "Golden years" five nights' midweek B&B, with dinner each night, from €299pps.
Restaurants and barsOyster Grill Restaurant, where you can choose a lobster from a tank; the black-and-gold Oyster bar, which offers a cocktail menu; and Fagan's, which shows sport seven days a week across nine screens.