Ballycastle hotel owners to invest £2m in upgrade

THE CO-OWNER of the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle has unveiled plans for a £2m investment ahead of the 2025 Open in Portrush.

Colum McLornan said he and business partner Claire Hunter intend to add 16 more bedrooms, a new food and drink offering and self-catering accommodation.

The pair, who met at catering college in Portrush, are marking 10 years since they acquired the hotel for £400,000.

It had gone into receivership two years earlier following the bankruptcy of its developer, Ballycastle man Mervyn McAlister.

At the peak of the property boom in 2008/9, it had been valued at £1.3m. In its latest financial results for the year to October 2021, the company behind the hotel made pre-tax profits of £437,415, with a surplus on its profit and loss account of £263,322.

But Mr McLornan said: “We didn't make profit until year four because the first three or four years whatever we made went back into the hotel.”

For more, including photographs of their celebration evening, see next week's Chronicle