Our History

You are about to dine and wine in one of Wexford’s most exciting venues. In front of you in the Crescent Quay, the deep pool of Wexford Port where the ocean sailing vessels docked, took on or unloaded merchandise and passengers for thousands of years.

Had you been negotiating your breakfast here at sunrise on Easter Monday, 1172, you would have watched Henry II, King of the Normans, with all the paraphernalia of court leaving for St. Davids in Wales. He had spent the Lenten season in Wexford doing penance for the murder of his Archbishop Thomas A Becket.

Had you, however, been sipping malt here in the 1750s, you might have noticed a sixteen-year old taking ship with accompanying teens and hugs. He was John Barry. There to create the United States Navy. Look out at his statue. It is a gift to us from the grateful United States people.

Had you been crossing the main course in the summer of 1917, you would have been surrounded by U.S Naval Airmen from their big World War One seaplane base at Ferrybank. They would have been overwhelming innocent Wexford girls with visions of their father’s ranches and oil wells, wall street brokerages and Hollywood potential.

You certainly would have relished President John F. Kennedy from this vantage point. The date was Thursday, 27 June 1963. You could have exchanged greetings with the young chief executive of the United States as he lay wreaths and carefully inspected the statue of his hero and fellow county man, Commodore John Barry.

We could go on, but your meal and libations beckon savour the moment and the ambience. Look around. Take Note. You never know who you might see. It could be an opera star, a princess, a head of state, a Nobel prize winner, a poor writer or the first girl to command space flight to mars. On the other hand, it might be the usual jovial Wexford boy or girl who from this very place has experienced the great, the hilarious, the creative and the garrulous, and for centuries has welcomed and entertained them all right well.

Sláinte! Here’s to your health and return.