The Redmond brothers of Gorey have been building for 33 years and what a portfolio they’ve completed. The duo – Tommy and Paddy – who grew up on a farm, both left school aged 15 believing “it was a waste of time” as they needed “to move on to better things!”
Paddy went to work for a local builder and Tommy went to Australia, where he also worked in construction.
When Tommy returned home after 10 years, the brothers were reunited, and the first project they worked on came about when a local person asked the pair to build a detached house.
Tommy and Paddy Redmond with some of their Angus cattle. \ Philip Doyle
This was the first of many once-off houses the Redmonds built in their locality over the next five years, while their first development project came when they bought a site in Gorey for 10-12 houses. They progressed to bigger sites after this and started building in Arklow, Wicklow, Bray and Carlow as well.
Brancing out
In the year 2000, the Redmonds built their first hotel – the Ashdown Park – which has become a real food destination property. This was followed by a second hotel, the Amber Springs, in 2005. When asked why they built a second hotel in the one town, Paddy answers: “There was a site with planning and we said right, let’s control our opposition.”
In 2017, the Amber Springs Hotel was named the best family hotel in Ireland. Country Living is not surprised. On the grounds of the hotel there is a pet farm, a football ground and a pond for ducks, go-karting, mini golf and an 80-seater cinema. The hotel also runs experiential seasonal campaigns at Easter, Halloween and of course at Christmas, when there’s an experiential train ride. Suffice to say, the Redmonds have left no stone unturned in their quest to provide the perfect holiday.
Tommy and Paddy Redmond at their hotel in Gorey, the Amber Springs. \ Philip Doyle
“You have to be all things to all people,” explains Tommy. “You have to be minding your wedding trade, your conference business, your accommodation packages and the entertainment. It’s not like a city centre hotel where you open your doors and sell your bedrooms - happy days. You have to be so many things to so many people to make a rural hotel actually work.”
Growing their own
Nowhere are the Redmonds minding their business more than on the restaurant and food side of their operation, and farming is still a hugely important part of what they do. Under the umbrella “One Farm Two Hotels One Vision” they raise Angus beef and kill it for the hotels, keeping almost 900 cattle. They estimate they grow 95% of their own feedstuff on the farm and have won a Bord Bia Origin Green Award.
The Redmonds are farming their home place but also acquired additional land, and own 330 acres. They are also leasing another 80. “People really buy into traceability of food that’s only reared five or six miles out the road,” explains Tommy.
It’s all good quality beef killed under 24 months. Our visitors really understand what we’re trying to achieve. It’s farm to fork, that’s actually happening live
The Redmonds also grow a lot of vegetables, both outdoors and in indoor tunnels. They have a director of farm-to-kitchen operations and there’s a full-time horticulturalist on the farm who works with the chefs building seasonal menus. A delivery is done every day as per the kitchens’ requirements.
This effort has paid off as the Rowan Tree restaurant at the Ashdown Park Hotel has won best hotel restaurant in the south-east. Alongside this, the Ashdown Park runs a monthly food market bringing together the best Wexford artisan food producers and craft makers in the county, under the umbrella, Taste of Wexford.
Acknowledging the successes, the Redmonds’ business has also met challenges over the years, most notably during the recession.
Paddy and Tommy say they were “lucky” because they had “sort of controlled it somewhat before the crash really happened” – they stopped buying sites when the prices “got crazy” and they sold off some sites before the downturn.
Tommy and Paddy Redmond with some of their Angus cattle. \ Philip Doyle
Tommy says they “knew a problem was coming because of the type of people who were paying for sites. People who weren’t necessarily developers, they were speculators who weren’t involved in the construction industry…they thought no matter what you paid for a site you were going to make money because that’s what had happened in the past.”
The Redmonds’ construction office remained open during the recession and they worked on small projects. Work started picking up again about five years ago but now, not only are they building houses, they are building business parks too with the first phase of a purpose built high spec M11 Business Campus.
They want to attract IT, pharma, financial and service provision companies to Gorey and the M11 Business Campus is an ideal base and investment for companies.
Back at the hotels, the brothers haven’t slowed down either. The Amber Springs has opened a new exclusive wing with the addition of 48 new family suites. Alongside this is the opening of a new 80 seater cinema for residents and a new terrace bar fitted out with booths, privacy and comfort – a perfect spot for adults to take some “time out”.
In the Ashdown Park, meanwhile, their Ivy Bar & Courtyard has enjoyed a dramatic renovation; incredibly, the entire restaurant- bar was utterly revamped in six days.
It’s all happening in Gorey, and as a town it seems to be thriving, where many other rural towns have yet to see that pick up.d
We have people coming from Galway and the west of Ireland - everywhere - to stay in the hotels and in many cases just to come to shop in Gorey.
It has a name for good shopping, especially the boutiques,” says Tommy, with The Ashdown Park offering a shopping package where guests enjoy discounts with the many high end boutique stores.
There is no doubting the importance of the Redmond brothers to the Gorey economy. The pair employ almost 400 people across their business, and the reason such employment is sustained is because Tommy and Paddy never take their finger off the pulse. Tommy says they work from “daylight to dark seven nights a week - that’s the reality, the phone never stops.”
And Country Living suspects their project-building is far from complete!
During the peak four-week period in summer, the hotels accommodate up to 11,000 guests and handle an average of an additional 15-20,000 visitors. These figures equate to a demand for approximately 50,000 meals with much of the raw material supplied directly from the farm to fork.
Read more
The perfect fusion of old and new in Kilkenny city
The boy is back in town: Robin Gill at the Taste of Dublin
The Redmond brothers of Gorey have been building for 33 years and what a portfolio they’ve completed. The duo – Tommy and Paddy – who grew up on a farm, both left school aged 15 believing “it was a waste of time” as they needed “to move on to better things!”
Paddy went to work for a local builder and Tommy went to Australia, where he also worked in construction.
When Tommy returned home after 10 years, the brothers were reunited, and the first project they worked on came about when a local person asked the pair to build a detached house.
Tommy and Paddy Redmond with some of their Angus cattle. \ Philip Doyle
This was the first of many once-off houses the Redmonds built in their locality over the next five years, while their first development project came when they bought a site in Gorey for 10-12 houses. They progressed to bigger sites after this and started building in Arklow, Wicklow, Bray and Carlow as well.
Brancing out
In the year 2000, the Redmonds built their first hotel – the Ashdown Park – which has become a real food destination property. This was followed by a second hotel, the Amber Springs, in 2005. When asked why they built a second hotel in the one town, Paddy answers: “There was a site with planning and we said right, let’s control our opposition.”
In 2017, the Amber Springs Hotel was named the best family hotel in Ireland. Country Living is not surprised. On the grounds of the hotel there is a pet farm, a football ground and a pond for ducks, go-karting, mini golf and an 80-seater cinema. The hotel also runs experiential seasonal campaigns at Easter, Halloween and of course at Christmas, when there’s an experiential train ride. Suffice to say, the Redmonds have left no stone unturned in their quest to provide the perfect holiday.
Tommy and Paddy Redmond at their hotel in Gorey, the Amber Springs. \ Philip Doyle
“You have to be all things to all people,” explains Tommy. “You have to be minding your wedding trade, your conference business, your accommodation packages and the entertainment. It’s not like a city centre hotel where you open your doors and sell your bedrooms - happy days. You have to be so many things to so many people to make a rural hotel actually work.”
Growing their own
Nowhere are the Redmonds minding their business more than on the restaurant and food side of their operation, and farming is still a hugely important part of what they do. Under the umbrella “One Farm Two Hotels One Vision” they raise Angus beef and kill it for the hotels, keeping almost 900 cattle. They estimate they grow 95% of their own feedstuff on the farm and have won a Bord Bia Origin Green Award.
The Redmonds are farming their home place but also acquired additional land, and own 330 acres. They are also leasing another 80. “People really buy into traceability of food that’s only reared five or six miles out the road,” explains Tommy.
It’s all good quality beef killed under 24 months. Our visitors really understand what we’re trying to achieve. It’s farm to fork, that’s actually happening live
The Redmonds also grow a lot of vegetables, both outdoors and in indoor tunnels. They have a director of farm-to-kitchen operations and there’s a full-time horticulturalist on the farm who works with the chefs building seasonal menus. A delivery is done every day as per the kitchens’ requirements.
This effort has paid off as the Rowan Tree restaurant at the Ashdown Park Hotel has won best hotel restaurant in the south-east. Alongside this, the Ashdown Park runs a monthly food market bringing together the best Wexford artisan food producers and craft makers in the county, under the umbrella, Taste of Wexford.
Acknowledging the successes, the Redmonds’ business has also met challenges over the years, most notably during the recession.
Paddy and Tommy say they were “lucky” because they had “sort of controlled it somewhat before the crash really happened” – they stopped buying sites when the prices “got crazy” and they sold off some sites before the downturn.
Tommy and Paddy Redmond with some of their Angus cattle. \ Philip Doyle
Tommy says they “knew a problem was coming because of the type of people who were paying for sites. People who weren’t necessarily developers, they were speculators who weren’t involved in the construction industry…they thought no matter what you paid for a site you were going to make money because that’s what had happened in the past.”
The Redmonds’ construction office remained open during the recession and they worked on small projects. Work started picking up again about five years ago but now, not only are they building houses, they are building business parks too with the first phase of a purpose built high spec M11 Business Campus.
They want to attract IT, pharma, financial and service provision companies to Gorey and the M11 Business Campus is an ideal base and investment for companies.
Back at the hotels, the brothers haven’t slowed down either. The Amber Springs has opened a new exclusive wing with the addition of 48 new family suites. Alongside this is the opening of a new 80 seater cinema for residents and a new terrace bar fitted out with booths, privacy and comfort – a perfect spot for adults to take some “time out”.
In the Ashdown Park, meanwhile, their Ivy Bar & Courtyard has enjoyed a dramatic renovation; incredibly, the entire restaurant- bar was utterly revamped in six days.
It’s all happening in Gorey, and as a town it seems to be thriving, where many other rural towns have yet to see that pick up.d
We have people coming from Galway and the west of Ireland - everywhere - to stay in the hotels and in many cases just to come to shop in Gorey.
It has a name for good shopping, especially the boutiques,” says Tommy, with The Ashdown Park offering a shopping package where guests enjoy discounts with the many high end boutique stores.
There is no doubting the importance of the Redmond brothers to the Gorey economy. The pair employ almost 400 people across their business, and the reason such employment is sustained is because Tommy and Paddy never take their finger off the pulse. Tommy says they work from “daylight to dark seven nights a week - that’s the reality, the phone never stops.”
And Country Living suspects their project-building is far from complete!
During the peak four-week period in summer, the hotels accommodate up to 11,000 guests and handle an average of an additional 15-20,000 visitors. These figures equate to a demand for approximately 50,000 meals with much of the raw material supplied directly from the farm to fork.
Read more
The perfect fusion of old and new in Kilkenny city
The boy is back in town: Robin Gill at the Taste of Dublin
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