Elle Gordon chats to expert hotelier Francis Brennan about the personal and professional impact of the last two years and hears about the exciting new series of At Your Service.
Francis Brennan answers the phone on the second ring. I wouldn't have expected anything less from a man who conducts himself in a very precise and efficient manner. He is exceedingly well put together, but of course, as a hotelier by trade and vocation, Francis has not escaped the stresses that the pandemic has flung at his industry and his own business, The Park Hotel in Kenmare. In his usual matter-of-fact but upbeat way, he tells me how things have been.
"The last two years were quite fraught, of course, because we were opening and closing, and opening and closing. It would be different somewhere like Dublin where people would walk in, but in Kenmare, people wouldn’t walk in, you’d need to have reservations in advance. But anyway, we did fine and we had a very satisfactory business year last year."
Is there anything good that he has taken from this time? "The Irish were a great support, I have to say. I think lots of people re-found Ireland as a result of the pandemic. We’ve had lots of people to Kenmare that hadn’t been there before so that was one of the plusses.
Most of us are familiar with Francis in full business mode on TV so it wouldn’t be surprising if he was at a loss during the stop-start lockdown. As a bachelor who lives alone, and an avid people person, did he mind that quieter time?
"My house is 11 miles from Kenmare and in the heart of lockdown, we were only allowed to go five miles, so on paper, I starved at the top of the hill! Of course, I did my shopping once a week regardless and then I walked every day. I walked two miles up the road, and two miles back, and got to know the hedgerow. I watched everything coming into bloom, from the primroses, to the rose hips, to the strawberries, to the cowslips, and the weather was beautiful. I only had the phone, the TV, myself and the road, and that was it. I was very happy in my own company. Before the pandemic, I never had time to do that. It gave me that time."
Through all this, he has managed with his brother, business partner, hotelier, and co-presenter John Brennan, to produce the new series of At Your Service. The show has a new hour-long format, where we see the brothers on a mission to help four owners develop their hospitality businesses.
Over the course of the last two years, the Brennans have been nurturing these businesses through the most challenging period ever faced by the hospitality industry, so it’s been a very different experience to what was previously a six-month stint of filming.
Francis laughs, "What year would you like to start? I get confused now about the exact timings of filming but we were closed, and then we went back, and then we were closed again. The show was filmed over years which never happened before."
You wouldn’t want to age or get a different haircut then? "Actually, Maggie, our director, said, 'The one great thing about the show is that the Brennans never age’ which I thought was hilarious! We’re not into skincare John or me. It is just the fresh air in Kenmare that keeps us the way we are. The hair is grey but that’s it."
Despite the extended filming schedule, viewers can expect the same mix of can-do practicality and outsider oversight that makes the show, well, work.
Francis says, "We meet some really great people who have had tough years. At the end of it all, we got four good shows, they all tell a story at a time when life was difficult for everybody, so everyone will understand that there were challenges, pitfalls and worries and whatever, but they’re all coming to the other end which is great."
He continues, "John and I are very honest and we are very practical and we never waste money, ever. I think it is the honesty of the show that really shines through and then I am always a bit of fun."
