The Roadhouse opens again

Robbie Boyle, manager of the Roadhouse, remembers when Joe Sheridan ran it, recalls that it was popular and welcoming, and when he saw the opportunity to re-open it, he went for it.

Robbie is part of a new team running the Roadhouse, and says they aim to replicate the consistency of the previous offering, and as they get established, add to that with more, including an a la carte evening option.

“This soft opening today (Friday) was really to get just the bugs out, and we unearthed as many bugs as we thought we had cleared up,” he said.

Robbie was happy with that when the Westmeath Examiner called out at lunchtime on Friday. “It worked, and the response of people coming in, without doing any real advertising other than saying on social media it was a soft opening, is amazing. A lot of people came in and we were delighted to see them.”

Large numbers of customers to that point were locals, but equally, there were plenty on longer journeys who pulled in for a break and a breakfast.

“So I think it’s needed,” said Robbie. “We’ll see how it goes, and we do have work to do once we fully open the doors – that’s when we really start finding what we can do better.”

He admitted that the larger than expected numbers of customers caught them on the hop a bit on Friday, as they had planned for staff training and getting their routines settled, but he’s happy that any criticism was constructive and people could see that they were finding their feet.

When fully up and running, the Roadhouse will employ between 18 and 22 staff, and Robbie says they will work closely with local suppliers.

“We’re planning something next year for the 60th anniversary, and we just hope that people give us a bit of time to get it right – and we will, we will get it right.”