Carlow Town Tickled Pink!!!!

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We're tickled pink . . . locals say new gay resort 'is a joke'


It's a case of welcome tothe hotel Carlow-fornia . . .

CARLOW is about to become the "camp capital" of the midlands with the arrival of Ireland's first exclusive gay hotel.

The new hotel on Tullow Street in the centre of the town will be entirely decked out in pink and is expected to open its doors at the end of the month.

But Cosmo Brown's Gay Resort Hotel is not going down well with the locals who want it shut down before there's any more talk of pink feather boas or renditions of YMCA.

Residents have slammed the hotel and the idea behind it as "outrageous" and are demanding that the council intervenes.

They claim the hotel will make a mockery of the town.

"It's generally seen as a joke here," said one local publican. "And all it will do is open a massive can of worms here."

The idea of turning the former pub Cosmo Brown's into a gay pub, club and hotel came about when a promoter, Brian Berry, aka BB Brown, approached the pub's owner Edward O'Donoghue with the idea of setting up a Gay Club in the hotel.

After some consideration, it was decided that Cosmo Brown's new 19-bedroom hotel should turn entirely pink.

"I gave it a good deal of thought," said Edward O'Donoghue, adding, "I decided to go with it. Gay people need to be looked after too. The pink pound is very strong and hopefully it'll be successful."

The company has even gone so far as to employ a local security firm to safeguard against any possible trouble.

But locals are vehemently against the proposed "gay palace".

"I have found absolutely nobody in favour of it so far. Everyone is critical of it," said Carlow councillor Des Hurley.

Mr Hurley said that there is already widespread trouble at weekends with locals mixing with busloads of revellers from Dublin and other counties, who regularly swamp Carlow's popular nightclubs.

While some of the younger people in the town said they were for it, or rather indifferent to it, the majority of locals are refusing to accept that their town will be regarded as the camp capital of the country.

"It's just bizarre," said one 25-year-old bar worker. "I really don't see the point. If it was a B&B it might work but not a fully fledged hotel. It just won't fit in here at all. And it definitely won't have an impact on pubs here because I honestly can't see anyone actually walking through its doors."

But Brian Berry, who will manage the business, is adamant that despite possible objections from locals, Cosmo Brown's will open as a gay resort hotel.

"In any establishment you can get complications and objections," he said. "But at the end of the day, no matter what objections I get, I'll continue."

The move has been welcomed by gay and lesbian groups who see it as "a sign of the times".

"Ireland has come such a long way and gay people from other countries come here because we are seen as a tolerable and open society," said Eoin Collins of the Gay and Lesbian Network.

The Equality Authority also welcomed the move last night saying the new hotel would end the "severe isolation" felt by some gay people living outside the capital.

Cosmo Brown's is currently only trading at the weekend after being recently forced to close for a week for permitting a person under the age of 18 years to consume alcohol on the premises.

The new hotel should be re-launched as a gay resort within four weeks.

"It's the whole shebang," Brian Berry concluded. "From the club to the hotel, right down to the menu, it's going to be gay."

Louise Healy and Brendan Furlong

Dilbert75

Funny thing is that if they'd not made as much fuss, it wouldn't have got half as much attention. Live and let live, that's what I say: consenting adults, and all that.

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Dilbert75 wrote:

Funny thing is that if they'd not made as much fuss, it wouldn't have got half as much attention. Live and let live, that's what I say: consenting adults, and all that.

I agree, what people do in their own private lives is completely their own business- I just said I'd post this 'cos of all the furore it has caused locally to see what people really think.

I always thought Cosmos was a bit gay or something anyways whenever I was in there so I don't think this a major departure for that club/bar in general!

azezil

lol a gay resort in carlow... oh good lord, gay resort good idea, but in carlow! ahahahahaha *shakes head*

Mossy Monk

it is all really funny

if people weren't so vocal about the whole thing. kind of like the Catholic Church and the Da Vinci Code

racso1975

As somebody sais the hotel should be called broke back mountain with the amount of cowboys in carlow........i think it's a great idea and hope it works out a treat

homerhop

great idea till some poor bugger steps outside and a crowd of lads comming out of Dinn Ri. End up getting the holy crap kicked out of them

Nalz

Has anyone seen anyone in the place since? I've walked by and took a look in twice now (a friday night, and a saturday night) not a sinner from what I could see...

Hmm_Messiah

Trilla wrote:

not a sinner from what I could see...

"sinner" - is that a euphemism for gay folk ?

right down to the menu, it's going to be gay.

FFS what would make a menu "gay" ? such brainless re-inforcement of stereotypes by a gay guy - pathetic.

When I lived in Carlow the only place to be easily gay was St Patricks College. which I happened to go to

(but behaved-mostly)

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Hmm_Messiah wrote:

"sinner" - is that a euphemism for gay folk ?


FFS what would make a menu "gay" ? such brainless re-inforcement of stereotypes by a gay guy - pathetic.

When I lived in Carlow the only place to be easily gay was St Patricks College. which I happened to go to

(but behaved-mostly)

I agree this is completely OTT-most gay people I know are not prancing fairy queens; theyre just normal people.Especially in a relatively conservative country town like Carlow, people's wrong impressions of gay people will be further reinforced by the promoter's OTT plans (from KK I hear!).
Thats just my opinion on i, but it has a humerous side too I guess.

azezil

mfitzy wrote:

I agree this is completely OTT-most gay people I know are not prancing fairy queens; theyre just normal people.Especially in a relatively conservative country town like Carlow, people's wrong impressions of gay people will be further reinforced by the promoter's OTT plans (from KK I hear!).
Thats just my opinion on i, but it has a humerous side too I guess.

Whatchu saying about Kilkenny people, I KEEEL U!

Nalz

Hmm_Messiah wrote:

"sinner" - is that a euphemism for gay folk ?

ha ha No but funny you should spot that

Hmm_Messiah

ha ha No but funny ....

"funny" - is that a euphemism for gay folk ?

DilbertPartII

Err I thought discriminating against customers based on their gender or sexual preferences was illegal? You know, what with the whole equality deal these days.

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Gay hotel plan goes GAA after locals protest

IT WAS originally planned as Ireland's 'first gay hotel'. But Cosmo Brown's in Carlow town has gone GAA instead of GAY with the emphasis firmly on sport and traditional music.

Hotel director Edward O'Donoghue admitted local opposition forced his last-minute rethink.

"There seemed to be a lot of people in the Carlow/Kilkenny area against it," he said. "We did have a change of heart over it."

So when Paul and Ruth Lucey, owners of the Mill Public House in Tullow, Co Carlow, approached him with an offer to take over the lease and relaunch Cosmo Brown's as a sports bar, he seized the chance.

"I approached Eddie O'Donoghue with the idea and the negotiations went very quickly after that," said Mr Lucey.

"We looked at Carlow and the response that the people of Carlow gave to the idea of having a gay hotel here," said Mr Lucey.

"I felt that there was a bad vibe and we decided to go with a more family-orientated type of pub."

Now Mr Lucey is to bring his experience as an inter-county minor hurling player for Tipperary to his new Carlow business, renamed the County Bar and Hotel. "We had to pick a name furthest from a gay venue that we could think of." And while Paul's home county of Tipperary will be reflected in the blue and gold colour scheme of the bar; both the Carlow and Laois flags will fly outside to be diplomatic.

Brendan Furlong

Dilbert75

The old 1960's Ireland attitude of "if you can't see it, it's not happening" wins again. Why could they not have just had their bar, discriminating against nobody but targeting a certain market (as all bars do) and be left alone without people putting their spoke in? Reminds me of an episode of Father Ted where Ted and Dougal were protesting against something, with banners saying "Down with that sort of thing" or similar.

Ponster

Why in the name of God did the hotel have to have a theme in the first place?

Was it not possible to indicate in some way that the hotel was gay-friendly (via Lonelyplanet and other such guidebooks) and emply a few gay barstaff or something. Did it have to be billed as the official gay bar of Carlow. If it was done properly the gay community would have found out that it was a place worth going and word of mouth would have done the rest.