In today’s Urbandoned video, we are exploring in one of the most
scenic locations we have ever visited. The building in question is an abandoned seaside
hotel in Ireland, dating back to the 1970s. It overlooks the western coast of the country,
towering above residential areas surrounding it. As for the inside, the brutal weather of it’s
position has caused extensive deterioration, mixing beautifully with how it was left untouched. We find scenes of nature reclaiming
it’s property across the whole site. Join us as we head within the
hotel to discover what remains. Our last question that we asked was
‘Should we show new locations we find even if they aren’t special?’ We had many interesting responses but
have selected this one from Sandra, who suggests we make a compilation
style video featuring buildings that haven’t been showcased prior. This
might be something we look into, because it would make for interesting content
when the buildings are grouped up together. This time we are asking, ‘What do you think
has a more impactful closure and why - leisure facilities or industry?’ Let us know in the
comments to possibly feature in our next upload. Perched atop some cliffs, the neglected
hotel has been an iconic sight for locals over the last fifty years. It would have
brought tourists from around the world to the rural location and business to
nearby restaurants and attractions. However, it’s time has come to a conclusion.
With a new fence halting some entry into it’s vacant interior, signs of dilapidation on
it’s walls and once admiring passerby’s now keeping an eye on it for intruders, the
pleasure aspect of the building is no more. Thankfully for us, after a long drive to
somewhere we believed we couldn’t miss, accessing the structure was very simple
and we were into it’s dark rear quickly. The resort’s heated pool was one
of many leisure facilities onsite, also including a small gym,
sauna and beauty salon. Passing the lone gym machine left behind,
we wanted to stop using our torches in this mostly non-boarded abandonment so
we hunted for light down the corridor. Until the year 2021, when we explored the seaside
premises, it had stayed off the radar from the majority of Irish urban explorers in great
condition. Social media had recently brought newspaper attention onto it, which made us wonder
whether we were too late to see the hotel in all it's glory. Despite only being inside momentarily, signs
of natural decay were already prominent. The few ferns developing on the
carpeted floor would be minimal compared to what we would find
as we headed into the back rooms. It’s very apparent that the entire
complex wasn’t watertight upon closure, the vibrant green colouring caused by leaks
from above. All the spare linens and tools had been ruined by the overwhelming mass
of water, leaving them soggy and moulding. In the second floor’s restaurants and
bars, directly above the mossy back rooms, we started to notice a pattern. Later we
would see that the third level repeated suit. The penetrating dampness was causing these
apocalyptic scenes of green in the spaces, inevitably causing collapses in the future when
the weight of the upper floors gets too much. The 32-bedroomed holiday resort was constructed
in the 1970s but then extended in the next couple decades. It contained a restaurant, bar,
conference and function room as well as the leisure facilities mentioned earlier, once very
popular due to it’s views of the bay and isolated location. Sadly, it was placed up for auction for just
over half a million euros five years ago. We are unsure why this occurred,
but it might relate to low tourism in the area as well as the property
steadily becoming structurally unsafe. You can see the devastating effect of
thieves scouring through the reception for anything valuable and not
tidying up after themselves. Papers were left everywhere and
cupboards were wide open, emptied out. Finally, we began to see some of the
untouched bedrooms we had been hoping for. Wandering the highest level, we were
intrigued to see how much one could appear as if it was still in use. However,
we soon came across the total opposite. We aren’t lying when we say this is some of the
most stunning deterioration we have ever seen. It was incredible to see rooms in time
capsule states growing forest-like plants. Comparing the decaying regions
with photographs of their past look shows how little their furniture has
changed, but signifies the amount of overgrowth that has progressed driven
by the consistent water intrusion. Disregarding the idealistic view
of the sea out the window that our cameras failed to pick up in these clips,
these bedrooms were very picturesque and we could have captured details inside
them for a lot longer than we did. As we had completed the exploration of the whole
resort, we decided to finish our walkthrough with a moment’s reflection on the balcony
where visitors used to enjoy food and drink. Even though there has been speculation regarding
restoration work for the hotel in phases, opening new sections to the public every
now and then, nothing is happening so far. The decay is damaging the half a century
old structure and the effects will worsen if little is done. We think a building with
such high prospects should be saved to continue bringing tourism to a rarely
seen part of the country. What an immense shame it is that the
building is shuttered and abandoned. Over our years of documentation of these sites, some tend to touch us and this is definitely
one of those, impacting the beautiful scenes of vacancy we saw because of how sad it is
that they are like that in the first place. Here are some of our photographs
we captured at the abandoned hotel. If you like the look of them, check out
our Instagram page in the description where we share images from our explores
months before they are seen on YouTube. Thanks for watching! We found this
video the favourite that we filmed from our recent Ireland trip, so we hope
you like it, too. See you next time!
