IslayBlog.com -> 2011 ->
Diardaoin, 23/Jun/2011
Islay Hotel Port Ellen Update
Running late again after a long day in the office, but as I hinted at it yesterday and I know some are waiting for it I thought I better get my act together this evening. What's the latest at the Islay Hotel (or better, ‘the islay’) in Port Ellen? Well, this is an almost final view:
On Saturday, just in time before leaving Islay, I managed to finally catch up with Roland. I had hoped to meet him earlier, but falling ill forced me to push it out. He's certainly in a good mood, as the end (or the start, depending on how you look at it) is now firmly in sight:
The exact date is still to be confirmed, but Roland is planning to at least part open in August.
Until then still quite a lot of work has to be done, but it looks really promising now. Following a few impressions from various parts of the hotel, also a few related stories:
This is of course the future bar of the hotel. Lots of space for the whisky bottles Roland is planning to have on offer in the bar. There's a nice personal story with it: The wood used for the shelves is teak wood Roland managed to buy from the old London Stock Exchange (they are old floor boards to be precise). His father used to work in Asia for a company involved in bringing in the trees with elephants (this was of course many years ago), the wood is marked with the stamps from that company. So quite possibly his father was involved in bringing this wood to Europe many many years ago.
Above the men's bathroom with all kinds of modern technology. Below a few more impressions from various parts of the hotel, stained glass windows, the railings in the staircase and a guest rooms bathroom:
All the bathrooms look different, with slightly different styles and features. The rooms will all have wifi and I think also a LAN connection. The railings in the staircase were created locally, the picture doesn't fully show it, but it looks very nice. The lift is installed and running (we used it, it talks as I think all of them do nowadays).
As I mentioned a lot still needs to be done, but Roland is very optimistic for August. He didn't really want his picture taken, but Roland said without this man's work the hotel wouldn't be anywhere near where it is today. Here he is laying the floor tiles in the entrance area on Saturday:
That's all I have for today, I hope I haven't forgotten anything important. Well, there's one more thing, something I've held back deliberately. A few readers asked about certain paintings from the old hotel. I've got news about them. Good news. But that would be too much for this update and deserves a special entry (which requires a bit more work). In other words, watch this space…
Share ‘Islay Hotel Port Ellen Update’: Tweet –
Advertising
Navigation
[Previous entry: "Port Ellen Pier Works, Islay"] [Home] [Next entry: "Friday Islay Pictures #197 - Islay Beach Rugby Winners"]