{"id":288005,"date":"2026-02-08T23:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/288005\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T23:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:54:12","slug":"meet-the-kenmare-family-who-bought-their-hotel-back-from-john-and-francis-brennan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/288005\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Kenmare family who bought their hotel back from John and Francis Brennan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPatrick and I very much believe in serendipity,\u201d says hotelier Aileen Hanley, and well, the Kenmare-based duo might. The stars began to align for the entrepreneurial couple back in May of 2023, manifesting an opportunity they had long dreamed about.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople started sending us messages,\u201d recalls Aileen as she cites one particular text \u201cfrom the horse\u2019s mouth\u201d that gave veracity to the chatter they\u2019d been hearing about The Lansdowne.<\/p>\n

Previously known as the Lansdowne Arms, the hotel on Kenmare\u2019s Main St was where Patrick Hanley had grown up; his parents, Breda and Bobby, had run it for almost three decades, before selling it on in 2000 when they retired. The historic property \u2014 built in 1790 as a residence for the second Earl of Shelburne \u2014 was back on the market, having been refurbished and run by hoteliers John and Francis Brennan since 2020, and the time was right for the husband and wife team to go for it.<\/p>\n

Equally excited to see the all-important \u201cit\u2019s for sale\u201d text was Breda Hanley.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer face was just priceless,\u201d Aileen recalls. \u201cShe said, \u2018we\u2019re going to get it back, aren\u2019t we? Aren\u2019t we going to get it back?\u2019 The two of us said, \u2018we\u2019ll do our best\u2019. And so we took it from there and got the ball rolling and thankfully it all paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KenmareKenmare native Patrick Hanley returns home with his wife Aileen Hanley to take the reins of The Lansdowne Kenmare Hotel \u2013 24 years after his parents sold the business. Photo By: Domnick Walsh<\/p>\n

Since 2006, the year Aileen and Patrick had met and fallen for each other while working in Co Meath\u2019s Bellinter House, the two had shared a vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom day one, we always wanted our own property,\u201d Aileen says.<\/p>\n

They succeeded in that aim, opening The Strand Cahore, a seaside restaurant in Co Wexford in January of 2018. They both have decades of hospitality experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in this industry since I was 13,\u201d Aileen says. \u201cMy grandparents owned the Hill of Tara in Co Meath. They were the last private owners; it was sold by compulsory purchase in 1975. There\u2019s a little coffee shop at the top, Maguires, and I worked there from the age of 13, all the way through college.\u201d<\/p>\n

She studied accounting and finance at Dublin Business School \u201cto have a grounding in that field, so that I could open my own business one day\u201d, but was always set on a career in hospitality, as was Patrick \u2014 who studied at the world-renowned Shannon College of Hotel Management, and is from a long line of hoteliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mam\u2019s family had a small hotel in Glengarriff, which was run by her uncle. She worked there from a very young age and eventually she inherited that property,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the same time, my father was growing up in Kenmare and studied hospitality in Shannon in the 60s. He did his placements in Switzerland and the Caribbean. Then mam and dad met in Kenmare and Glengarriff at the old-school ballroom of romance dances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KenmareKenmare native Patrick Hanley returns home with his wife Aileen Hanley to take the reins of The Lansdowne Kenmare Hotel \u2013 24 years after his parents sold the business. Photo By: Domnick Walsh<\/p>\n

Bobby Hanley bought the Lansdowne Arms in 1972. He and Breda put their heart and soul into running the property, which is one of the oldest buildings in the Co Kerry town. The family only took holidays in the winter off-season, Patrick recalls, with Bobby and Breda keeping tabs on the goings-on at the Lansdowne all the while via phone and fax, and never venturing further afield than Scotland, just in case.<\/p>\n

Until the age of about seven, Patrick had a bedroom over the hotel lobby: \u201cOn Friday and Saturday nights, there\u2019d be music. I have vivid memories of getting out of my bed, and standing at the top of the stairs, calling for my mam. And maybe a customer would be walking by and they\u2019d look up and see me and say, \u2018I\u2019ll get your mam now\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breda would duly arrive minutes later to tuck her mischievous son back into bed.<\/p>\n

Patrick had no inclination to take over the hotel when Bobby and Breda were retiring. He was only 21, the time just wasn\u2019t right, he says, and destiny had other plans for him anyway, as Aileen points out: \u201cBreda always says, \u2018He never would have met you if we hadn\u2019t sold it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breda and Bobby \u201cenjoyed a fantastic retirement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when you run a small business like a hotel, people let it run them into the ground, and they didn\u2019t do that,\u201d Patrick says. \u201cThey got to enjoy a nice retirement and a long one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, Bobby died in 2014, but Breda, who now lives with Patrick and Aileen, is thriving and happily \u201cgives her opinion\u201d on all things Lansdowne.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just loves talking about it, her time in it, and we love listening,\u201d Aileen says, adding that the pastry chef from Bobby and Breda\u2019s tenure is now back doing all the hotel\u2019s pastries. \u201cAnd oh my God, the stories! Herself and Breda together is just brilliant craic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KenmareKenmare native Patrick Hanley returns home with his wife Aileen Hanley to take the reins of The Lansdowne Kenmare Hotel \u2013 24 years after his parents sold the business. Photo By: Domnick Walsh<\/p>\n

While the Brennan brothers gave the Lansdowne a \u201cfantastic facelift\u201d, Patrick and Aileen have been putting their own stamp on the property since they took over in January of last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve put our own personality onto that canvas that John provided us with. And John loves it,\u201d Aileen says. \u201cWe have a fantastic relationship. It\u2019s lovely when he comes in and says, \u2018I love now what you did with that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

She and Patrick have added \u201cmore colour and the soft cushions and different bits and pieces\u201d. Some of those are little time capsules that have been unearthed in the hotel\u2019s attic, such as Patrick\u2019s old Elvis posters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Patrick unrolled them,\u201d Aileen says, \u201che got quite emotional because he was transported back to being in his childhood bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re a luxury hotel, but their vision of luxury isn\u2019t gilded grandeur, rather it\u2019s the feeling that envelops you when you step through the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that comes from our amazing, friendly team,\u201d Aileen says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what we want. We want people to feel really good when they walk in, rather than, \u2018oh my God, look at that chandelier\u2019. That\u2019s not what we\u2019re about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the relentless demands on their time, the Hanleys still strive for a work-life balance, carving out \u201clittle pockets\u201d of time to spend together or recharging their batteries. A 5.30pm dinnertime with the kids is sacred.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t get out of the hotel, we\u2019ll bring them down to us and we\u2019ll sit and we\u2019ll have dinner with them in the hotel, and that\u2019s really important to us,\u201d says Patrick.<\/p>\n

Technology makes life easier than it was in Bobby and Breda\u2019s day, he adds, and enables them to do a certain amount of remote working, but the calibre of their staff is also key to their success: \u201cWe have excellent people in both locations who we trust implicitly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kenmare community has welcomed them back with open arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom January [of last year], when we came in, it was like we got married, there were so many flowers in the lobby,\u201d Aileen recalls. \u201cIt was such an emotional couple of weeks, people were coming in crying, hugging us, shaking our hands, telling stories about Bobby and Breda; it was just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That August was the 10th anniversary of Bobby Hanley\u2019s passing, so Aileen and Patrick decided to put on an event and invite the whole community.<\/p>\n

\u201cBobby was best friends with John B Keane, so his family came down; there was singing, there was poetry, it was just amazing,\u201d Aileen says. \u201cThat\u2019s the fabric of Kenmare: Singing, poetry, support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether times are good or times are bad, people come together,\u201d adds Patrick. \u201cIt\u2019s a great town. It\u2019s a great community. Everyone supports everyone, and we all say, \u2018rising tides sail all boats\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n lansdownekenmare.com<\/a>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPatrick and I very much believe in serendipity,\u201d says hotelier Aileen Hanley, and well, the Kenmare-based duo might.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,1693,60],"class_list":["post-288005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-insight","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}