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retrosellers review - Titanic restaurant and bar,
Cobh (formerly Queenstown), Cork, Ireland
R.M.S. Titanic weighed 46,329 gross tons and was 852.3 feet
in length; at the time, she was the largest ship ever built.
The White Star Line took delivery of her on April 2nd 1912
and she began her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York
eight days later.
Late on the evening of April 14th, she struck an iceberg:
the hull below the waterline was pierced for a length of 300
feet. The ship sank within two and a half hours. There were
only 20 lifeboats available for the 2201 people aboard. Four
hours after receiving the Titanic's distress calls, the Cunard
liner Carpathia picked up 712 survivors from the icy waters.
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| The bar |
Titanic Queenstown is a bar and restaurant in Cobh, Ireland,
which recreates two rooms of the splendid but ill-fated Titanic.
It is based in the Scotts Building, one-time point of departure
for passengers on the Cunard White Star Line, and is the brainchild
of the ebullient Vincent Keaney. Since Vincent was himself an
electrician in the Royal Navy for seven and a half years, one
might assume an obsessive interest in all things nautical. Vincent
laughs heartily at the suggestion.
"I still couldn't tell you port from starboard! But I will
admit that I've always been fascinated by liners. As a child,
I was in a dreadful little choir which was due to perform on
the Queen Mary and I was really excited about it. Then I got
shingles and hoped my mother wouldn't notice the spots. She
was a North Kerrywoman with seven children, forever checking
us over for head lice and so on. She noticed! So I never got
aboard the Queen Mary."
Another ingredient in the Titanic Queenstown story has been
Vincent's own extraordinary good luck. He was born and grew
up in Cobh, leaving in 1971 ("in a mad quest to lose my
virginity") and living and working in South Africa, India,
Belgium and the U.K. When he returned to Cobh, having acquired
a family, he settled into genteel poverty in an early Victorian
house in The Crescent. Life was tough: he was bringing up three
daughters on his own and, on a fateful Saturday in 1995, spent
what he thought was his last pound on a Lotto ticket. Overnight,
he was a millionaire.
"When we were doing the renovations on the house, I found
a cheque for £470 made out to the mortgage company, stuck behind
a mirror," recalls Vincent. "So, strictly speaking,
I wasn't as broke as I thought I was!"
The house in The Crescent was completely revamped in ten weeks
and Vincent discovered a fascination with authentic renovation,
which dovetailed with his existing love of the architecture
of Cobh.
"Cobh was littered with fabulous imperialist buildings,
woefully neglected. I was already involved with the plans for
the Yacht Club the oldest in the world which is now the
Sirius Project. Carrig House, which was used by the American
Admiralty during the First World War and was later a school,
will hopefully be made into a Town Hall by Cobh Urban District
Council. The old Customs House is still fallow. I was surrounded
by these really gorgeous redbrick buildings dating from the
1880's."
Scotts Building hove into view.
"At that stage, I was really searching for another project,
another building, that would make a real difference to the progression
of Cobh as a tourist destination," says Vincent, adding
wryly, "I needed something meaty and gutsy, an apparently
impossible task."
Impossible it almost became. Scotts Building had three separate
tenants: the dole office, An Post, and local fishermen; the
last were particularly vociferous in their objections. Eventually,
terms were agreed, and Vincent took possession in June1999.
In the meantime, his imagination had been fired by the history
of the building, and by Cobh's connection with the tragedy of
the Titanic. The importance of Cobh (formerly Queenstown) to
the larger story of Irish emigration is also staggering: of
the 6 million people who left Ireland between 1848 and 1950,
2.5 million departed from this port.
"I found it amazing that something like this hadn't already
been done," says Vincent. "Admittedly, the Titanic
was only here for one and a half hours, but 123 people got on
at Cobh."
A pedigree project such as this one needed experience in the
business to give ballast to the dream. Vincent's business partner
is Mike Nolan "a man of great acumen" - who owns
the Oyster Tavern, the oldest tavern in Cork, and Oscar Madison's
in Kinsale. |
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| The verandah |
Over the four years of the touch-and-go negotiations for the
Scotts Building, Vincent immersed himself in the legend. Armed
with volumes such as Leo Marriott's Titanic, he familiarised
himself with the liner's state-rooms. Both the Titanic and her
sister-ship, the Olympic, used the same set of drawings by Thomas
Andrews and had identical interiors. The First Class Smoke Room
was the design chosen by Vincent for his Titanic bar, which
takes up the lower floor of the Scotts Building.
"Originally, this area had three distinct functions,"
explains Vincent. "There was the telegraph office, the
mail store, and the baggage sheds." When the Lusitania
was torpedoed in 1915 near Kinsale, with appalling loss of life,
these were used as a morgue.
As the building is not listed, removing walls was not a problem,
but the RSJ meant a certain compromise on ceiling detail. Fire
regulations also meant that some of the 20 square feet of wooden
wall panelling had to be covered by high-backed banquettes.
These were designed with a Chesterfield feel "I wanted
to create the ambience of an Edwardian gentlemen's smoke room"
and the panelling itself, which dates from 1900, was salvaged
from the Sailors' and Soldiers' Home, which has its own links
with the White Star Line.
The bar counter dates from 1878 and hails from the Munster and
Leinster Bank in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown). An Indian
rosewood and gilt circular bar-back is from the Royal Mail Ship
Mauritania, sister ship to the Lusitania, and adjoining columns
are based on those found in the Mauritania's smoke room. These
items formerly belonged to the Mauritania pub in Bristol, which
was accidentally blown up by British Gas in the 'eighties. A
large mirror, specially commissioned, was inspired by designs
aboard both the S.S. America and the Mauritania. The light-fittings
on the walls are a combination of two separate styles aboard
the Titanic, and were designed by Christopher Ray and manufactured
by Moonlighting in Bandon.
A tour of the Ladies' lavatories "please note the aspidistra!"
laughs Vincent reveals original basins from the Olympic, which
cost £1500 but had to be re-enamelled in Scotland: "Between
the jigs and the reels, they cost me £3000." The cubicle
doors are based on an original from the Celtic, which ran aground
outside Cobh in 1928. The basins in the Gents' lavatories are
from the Officers' Building in the Sailors' and Soldiers' Home;
frosted decorative glass from a salvage yard in Bristol augments
the Edwardian period feel.
Not every period item was expensive: for the main bar, Vincent
'purchased' an original etching of the R.M.S. Aquitania by Frank
Mason from a local man for100 cigarettes. The walls of the entire
bar are a testimony to all things maritime, with an obvious
focus on the Titanic. Many of the photographs are copies of
the poignant collection made by Father Francis Browne, who had
travelled from Southampton, and had a sponsor to take him to
America; luckily for him, his bishop ordered him to disembark
at Queenstown. Among these are two particularly evocative portraits:
the Titanic dropping anchor at Queenstown, and the last photograph
taken of Captain Smith, doomed to go down with his ship. The
Captain also features in the Queenstown Pilot Harbour Log for
1911-1918, now on permanent loan to the Titanic bar, along with
the name of John Cotter, the Titanic's pilot.
Also on display is a share certificate from the International
Mercantile Marine, entitling a Miss Margaret Moroney to a single
share in the Titanic. "Obviously," says a shameless
Vincent, "the shares took a dive." Harland and Wolff,
the Belfast shipyard which built the Titanic, have donated an
original tile from the consignment made for the smoke rooms
of the Olympic, the Titanic, and a third ship, the Britannic;
the pattern of this is incorporated into the floor-covering.
There are prints of Cobh taken immediately after the sinking
of the Titanic on April 12th 1914, showing a town in mourning,
with all flags along the water frontage at half-mast; and Fr.
Browne's extraordinary picture of the requiem mass which followed
on April 24th.
Pictures of the interior of the Titanic and various ships of
the Line have influenced other details, such as the free-standing
copper-topped tables and graceful chairs. The bar itself looks
out over the water: doors open out onto Vincent's "B Deck",
based on pictures of the Titanic's steerage section. Protected
under glass, on its original site, are the remains of the flag-pole
of the White Star Line. The Titanic Bar opened on August 20th
2000 and, on that day, says a proud Vincent, "We raised
the flag for the first time in 66 years." The guest of
honour at the opening was Millvina Dean, the youngest survivor
of the disaster: she was nine weeks old when the Titanic sailed.
Outside, the exhibition continues, including an impressive picture
of a funnel, before it was fitted on the Titanic: it was famously
wide enough to drive a train through. The panelling on "B
Deck" originally belonged to the Celtic and was supplied
by the Maritime Institute: a ceilidh group already has its eye
on the space for regular sessions. Vincent has created a double
elevation to the deck, including an outside bar. The doors and
windows of the Scotts Building also had to undergo radical change.
"They were such scabby little doors and windows,"
declares Vincent. "I looked at the old Yacht Club Building,
and always envied them their arches. I think the arch mechanism
always gives a lightness of effect." This is now part of
the overall design.
Upstairs, naturally, is "A Deck", which is actually
above street level. From that side of the building, stairs lead
up to a door, above which a delighted Vincent uncovered an original
sign: Cunard Line White Star Entrance. This space, which will
now become a restaurant inspired by the Titanic's Café Parisien,
used to be the Second Class passengers' waiting room. |
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| The Cunard room |
The painted ceiling, with its three vaulted sections, will
be familiar to anyone who has seen James Cameron's film: these
designs could be seen on the ceiling dome above the great stairwell.
The huge clock Time, Honour and Glory will also be familiar,
for obvious reasons: the producer and the restaurateur were
using the same sources. Speaking of the film, Vincent was stunned
that it seemed to "come out of nowhere" during the
very period he was planning Titanic Queenstown. Through the
American Titanic Society, he managed to wangle an invitation
onto the set during filming. He also organised its first screening
in Cork, a charity premiere on behalf of the R.N.L.I.
Leading up from the lower part of the building, the stairwell
and balustrade, made locally, are of verdigris ironwork, and
copied from the bronze original in Second Class on the Titanic.
The bar counter dates from the turn of the last century and
hails from the Bank of Ireland in Midleton. Mirrored windows
will enhance the Palm Court/Parisian feel. On the wall is a
plaster plaque of a crowned lion holding a globe: "An imperialist
symbol," explains Vincent. "The message is that Cunard
will deliver you anywhere on the globe. Outside the entrance,
I have my own stone lions, but they don't have crowns - they're
my republican version!"
On the waterside end of the room is a separate, inner chamber
housing the Captain's Table, with a view of 180ƒ over the
harbour, creating the perfect, exclusive setting for private
dining. The restaurant offers occasional theme nights the
most obvious being 'The Last Dinner On The Titanic' although
authentic menus might be a bit hard for the modern diner to
swallow: the Edwardians were used to eleven courses. Selected
dishes, and a wholesale raiding of established culinary genius,
such as Theodora Fitzgibbon's A Taste of Ireland, produce an
imaginative menu. As for the drinks, the joke favoured by Vincent's
friends - "I suppose there'll be ice with everything?"-
has worn rather thin.
On a project which has been full, according to Vincent, of "amazing
synergies, synchronicity, serendipity", the coincidences
continue. Paul McGrath, Vincent's chef, had no idea about Vincent's
establishment when they were introduced by a mutual friend.
Paul was born in America, but his people were Irish emigrants
from Cavan. Mary Murphy, his father's aunt, and her sister,
Kate, were both survivors of the Titanic.
There is even a ghostly presence apparently supporting Titanic
Queenstown. Margaret Rice travelled with her five young children
in steerage, and perished. A clairvoyant friend of Vincent's
confirmed the presence of a woman with five children when several
of the workmen sensed something strange. The discovery of period
documents in the attic, including a booking form for 'M. Rice,
Macroom' was one of the factors which seemed to give the banks
pause for thought at the height of their grumblings about overspending
in February.
The crisis passed, and Titanic is doing good business so far,
particularly in the evenings. Next phase of the expansion plans
includes a shop selling high-quality reproduction items, such
as period light-fittings.
"I'm working on a range of about twenty-eight products,
all of which will be exclusive to us," says Vincent. "The
shop should be ready for the next full season."
He is vastly enjoying his new marketing experience, but admits
the creation of Titanic Queenstown was hard going at times.
"In terms of the actual design, I had to stay totally concentrated.
It was unusual for the builders, for instance, to work without
coherent drawings. But we were relying on salvaged pieces from
all over the place. The whole project was unique in that authentic
detail dictated the use of space: it's more usual to work the
other way around. And I had my pet phobias such as corridors
- stupid things, a total waste of space. That's why my bar is
full of nooks and crannies, little islands of privacy conducive
to the human condition!
"I knew what I wanted, but dreams can easily become your
nightmare. The day the banks almost pulled the plug fits that
description, and there were several days when I found myself
thinking, "Is it ever going to happen?" A lot of people
thought that the whole idea was arrogant and unachievable, and
I sometimes think it was only sheer bloody-mindedness which
kept me at it."
He beams characteristically, as befits a man whose dream has
come true.
Titanic Queenstown
White Star Buildings
Scotts Quay
Cobh
Co. Cork
Ireland
Tel: 00353-21-4813276
Web: http://www.titanicqueenstown.com
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