RELAXING Seán and Chrissey Corrigan, former owners of the Village Inn Bar, Keel, receiving a drink from the manager of The Amethyst, Edward John McNamara.
Cory Kilbane
After a period of over 20 years of closure, Edward McNamara Snr had the gratifying honour of re-opening the doors of the Amethyst Bar to the Achill public on Saturday afternoon.
Located in the centre of the village of Keel, the Amethyst Bar which was one of Achill’s most historic and well-known businesses, shut its doors over two decades ago.
The one-time top-drawer hotel had fallen into a state of disrepair before local businessman Paul McNamara stepped in back in 2011 and began demolishing the building in August 2016.
Fast forward a rather quick and hectic 11 months for the McNamara family and the long awaited opening of the luxurious, state-of-the-art bar/restaurant has brought about renewed hope and an air of optimism to the Achill area.
“It’s a great addition to the parish of Achill and we’re hoping that it will regenerate Achill during the tourism season,” said the manager of the Amethyst Bar, Edward John McNamara.
“There is no doubt that the tourism industry is going from strength to strength in the Achill area with the breakthrough of the Wild Atlantic Way and we want to add to this going forward. A lot of history has been recreated by the opening of the bar and we are delighted to be part of it,” he added.
Original name
The retention of the original name of the hotel is something that must be noted also as it has now revived and rejuvenated the history of one of Achill’s most historic businesses.
“We feel that one of the most important factors about it all is that we retained the original name, that being the Amethyst. It’s very important that the name is held and that the tradition and the history lives on
“We have also been supported greatly by our fellow businesses around us in Keel. All the restaurants, shops, B&B’s, fellow publicans and businesses have been of fantastic support to us and we look forward to working closely along with them in future,” added McNamara.
Trading first began in the Amethyst Hotel in 1892 and it was once the residence of the famous Irish artist Paul Henry when he first came to Achill Island in 1910. He spent nine years in the old Amethyst Hotel.
The historic hotel was also frequently visited by famous Irish songwriter Liam Reilly, who famously composed a song there and former Beatles star John Lennon was also a one time famous visitor in the 1960s.
