Why Phibsborough

People ask why a hotel would open in Phibsborough rather than on the quays, and the honest answer is that we were looking for somewhere that already worked without us.

Phibsborough has a butcher, a hardware shop, three good pubs and a library. It has a canal towpath that carries commuters on bicycles at eight and swimmers in July. It has a football club owned by its own supporters, playing on a ground surrounded by terraced houses, and a matchday that spills out into every street around it.

Those are not amenities we could build. They are the reason to be there at all. Our job is to add a good room, a good bed and a good ground floor, and otherwise to get out of the way.