{"id":524854,"date":"2026-06-08T17:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/524854\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T17:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:21:16","slug":"better-news-for-east-cork-as-famous-townhouse-restaurant-finds-new-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/524854\/","title":{"rendered":"Better news for East Cork as famous townhouse restaurant finds new owners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It had been on the market for several years as family searched for new custodians<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_eyJidWNrZXQiOiJtZWRpYW1hc3Rlci1zM2V1IiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7ImZpdCI6Imluc2lkZSIsIndpZHRoIjoxMj.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Aherne's Luxury Townhouse and Restaurant, Youghal\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Aherne&#8217;s Luxury Townhouse and Restaurant, Youghal(Image: Brian Gleeson Property )<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">After the sad news that one of its best-loved pubs will be <a aria-label=\"closing its doors at the end of this month,Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corkbeo.ie\/news\/local-news\/sadness-one-east-corks-most-34063061\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">closing its doors at the end of this month,<\/a> there is a more positive outlook for the hospitality trade in Youghal this morning with a major announcement for its most famous restaurant.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The award-winning <a aria-label=\"Aherne&#039;s TownhouseLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ahernes.net\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Aherne&#8217;s Townhouse<\/a> &amp; Seafood Bar, for so long, a beacon of great food and fantastic hospitality in East Cork, had been on the market for nearly four years, with the asking price for the<a aria-label=\" business cut by over a half from the original \u20ac2m in 2022.Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corkbeo.ie\/news\/property\/over-1-million-slashed-original-31520692\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\"> business cut by over a half from the original \u20ac2m in 2022.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Over the past few years, through very tough times for the hospitality sector across Munster, the family running Aherne&#8217;s, headed by Gaye and David Fitzgibbon, have worked hard to keep the business going as a very attractive opportunity for new owners to come in and take it forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Now the family who have had Aherne&#8217;s over three generations since 1923, have confirmed they are finally stepping back, with a well-earned retirement beckoning, as new owners are set to take over from Wednesday, July 15th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Those new owners are another couple, John and Julie Finn, who are well known in the restaurant trade in Cork, as the couple behind Finns&#8217; Farmcut in Kinsale and previously Dillon&#8217;s in Timoleague, a place that was a bit of a nirvana for people holidaying in the Courtmac area down the years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Saying a fond farewell to their friends and regulars, the soon to be former owners said: &#8220;After many wonderful years, Gaye &amp; David will retire and pass the baton to new ownership. Aherne&#8217;s as you know it will continue trading up to and including Saturday 11th July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;John &amp; Julie Finn will take over Aherne&#8217;s and will open on Wednesday 15th July. We are delighted that the same dedicated team will remain working at Aherne&#8217;s under the new Ownership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;We would like to thank everyone in our wonderful team, customers, friends &amp; suppliers who have been part of our story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;We know Aherne&#8217;s will be in great hands and we are especially pleased that the familiar team you have all come to know will remain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Until then, we are here from Wednesday to Sunday and would love to welcome you. Share a meal, revisit a favourite memory and help us celebrate this special chapter.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Gaye, David &amp; all the team&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The townhouse is in the top-class accommodation guide to Ireland, the<a aria-label=\" famous Blue BookLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corkbeo.ie\/culture\/food-drink\/two-corks-finest-country-house-25482684\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\"> famous Blue Book<\/a> and it looks like Ahern&#8217;s of Youghal is now about to open a new chapter in it&#8217;s storied history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It had been on the market for several years as family searched for new custodians Aherne&#8217;s Luxury Townhouse&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,98496,20149,18,19,17],"class_list":["post-524854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cork-loves","tag-east-cork","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116715643567511382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}