{"id":554659,"date":"2026-06-26T04:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/554659\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T04:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:47:22","slug":"family-behind-the-whistledown-in-warrenpoint-announce-decision-to-sell-waterfront-hotel-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/554659\/","title":{"rendered":"Family behind The Whistledown in Warrenpoint announce decision to sell waterfront hotel \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family behind the Whistledown Hotel in Warrenpoint<\/a> have announced their plans to sell the seafront property after 32 years.<\/p>\n

Sarah and Colum McAvoy opened the 21-bedroom boutique hotel<\/a> in 1994, turning a Victorian-era house on Seaview into a hub of hospitality in the Co Down town.<\/p>\n

More than three decades on, the family, who also own the Bridge Bar in Newry, have placed their hotel<\/a> property on the market, with a guide price of \u00a32.5 million.<\/p>\n

The well-known venue benefits from one of the island\u2019s most spectacular hospitality<\/a> settings, overlooking the Mournes, the Cooley Peninsula and Carlingford Lough<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Reprieve<\/a>\"Family<\/a><\/p>\n

The decision to sell The Whistledown comes as Warrenpoint continues the countdown to the completion of the Narrow Water Bridge project, which is expected to open in early 2028, linking the town directly to Omeath.<\/p>\n

Warrenpoint, which is preparing to host the Ulster Fleadh for the second year running in July, is also set to benefit from a new \u00a37.4m health and well-being hub<\/a> and a \u00a32.2m shorefront regeneration scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always believed Warrenpoint was somewhere special,\u201d said Sarah McAvoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has the landscape, the people, the atmosphere, and now it has real momentum behind it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe built this hotel around the idea that people would come here to celebrate, to slow down, to reconnect and to enjoy this incredible part of Northern Ireland. Thirty years later, that belief has only grown stronger. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re enormously proud of what we\u2019ve created, but we also feel incredibly excited about what comes next for both the hotel and the town itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colum McAvoy added: \u201cWarrenpoint is changing rapidly. Between the bridge project, the waterfront investment, the growing tourism market and the increasing number of people discovering the area for the first time, the future here feels hugely exciting. This hotel sits right at the centre of that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Hughes of CBRE<\/a> Hotels, who have been appointed to sell The Whistledown, described it as one of the most compelling regional hospitality opportunities currently coming to market across the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n

He said it combines a proven and profitable business with an exceptional waterfront setting, significant future development potential, and a location increasingly recognised as one of Ireland\u2019s rising tourism destinations.<\/p>\n

Alongside 21 bedrooms, the property<\/a> has three distinct food and beverage offerings; an events and wedding business, and a growing corporate clientele.<\/p>\n

Full planning permission has also been granted for a sea-facing garden terrace development, while additional expansion opportunities include enhanced meeting and event facilities and a retail unit opposite the property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family behind the Whistledown Hotel in Warrenpoint have announced their plans to sell the seafront property after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,237427,62843,101264,18,11785,2154,6600,19,17,237426],"class_list":["post-554659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-carlingford","tag-cbre","tag-commercial-property","tag-eire","tag-hospitality","tag-hotel","tag-hotels","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-warrenpoint"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116814601067052903","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554659","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=554659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}