Located at the heart of Athlone, on Church Street, and under new ownership, The Prince of Wales Hotel has been providing a superb service to locals and visitors alike for the past five years. This magnificent, four-star hotel is extremely supportive of the local community, including the GAA, and is a proud supporter of many of the Lake County's club and county teams. The Prince of Wales Hotel is part of the fabric of Athlone - and has been for a very long time. The hotel originally opened 150 years ago and is an inherent part of the community in the midlands town. It was completely revamped, refurbished, re-styled and re-opened under the current owners - the Callanan family - some five years ago. The hotel closed for redevelopment in 2001 and the multimillion euro development opened in May 2004. The new Prince of Wales offers stylish, comfortable accommodation in the heart of Athlone. Positioned on Church Street in the very centre of town, the hotel provides the very highest standards of comfort and service. The hotel features 46 bedrooms. comprising classic, superior and deluxe rooms. The designers focused on comfort and each room is soothingly simple, finished in black marble, chocolate and cream. Each is equipped with television, D.V.D, digital climate control, multi-point modem connection, voicemail facilities and high speed internet access as well as all the other extras one would expect from an establishment of such class. The Prince of Wales, Athlone caters for all age groups. With modern, comfortable bedrooms, a fun and cosy bar spread out over two floors and a recently-opened restaurant offering contemporary and traditional Irish cuisine - not to mention the eager, professional and ultra-friendly staff, the Prince of Wales offers a world of hospitality under one roof. It is the ideal stopover for clients visiting Athlone for business or pleasure, or just for a bite to eat or a quiet, relaxing drink in The Prince Bar. The Callanan family boasts a wealth of experience as hotel operators, also owning the very successful Skeffington Arms Hotel and The Skeff Bar in Galway's Eyre Square. The most recent addition to the group is their critically-acclaimed club Karma, which was nominated as Best Club Ireland in the annual AM PM awards. Chris Vos, manager of The Prince of Wales Hotel, notes: "The hotel is family-owned and we provide a personal touch in everything we do. We are supported by a strong local trade and we like to do everything we can to support these people in turn. "The Prince Bar, which is Athlone's premier meeting place, does a brisk lunch trade and also has a very popular bar food menu. Things can liven up on Friday and Saturday nights, when there's a great vibe in the air, and the Karma Niteclub is the top nightspot in Athlone. Our food and beverage trade would be very strong all year around, while the bedrooms and meeting rooms are used by a lot of business people and tourists who visit the area. We're ideally located in a very central location and we benefit from a lot of passing and local business. "Our core market would be people in their mid-20s to late-40s, but we cater for all age groups and provide everybody with a very strong service." The Prince of Wales is a four-star hotel, with 46 bedrooms, six of which are deluxe. There are also five very popular meeting / conference rooms; the Prince Bar which straddles two floors and is a very popular food venue; and the hotel restaurant which will re-launch in the summer of 2009. "We have a nice mixture of modern and classical interiors, and the entire building is cosy, uncluttered and extremely comfortable," continues the hotel manager. Chris has been managing the hotel for nine months now and one of his main goals is to see the establishment integrated even further into the local community: "As such, we try to support and sponsor local clubs and activities as much as we can. We host the Midlands Photography Club, who hold meetings here every two weeks; the BNI (Business Networking International); Athlone Drama Festival; and we sponsor and host the Athlone Literary Festival. "I'm also junior vice-chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, who meet here regularly. In July, we will be headquarters for Tri-Athlone. We also have the community games here this year. "We're a family-owned business and we do everything we can to involve ourselves with other organisations in the town. For example, we try to involve local companies and businesses in our packages etc. We are here to promote Athlone, not just to promote The Prince of Wales. "Our facilities are open to all the GAA clubs and sports clubs in the area. We have also done many GAA sponsorships over the years. We try to support local clubs and promote local events at all levels. We host meetings and club members also use our facilities as a social outlet. "The Prince Bar is also a popular live match venue, showing all major gaelic football, hurling, rugby, Premiership and international soccer matches live on the big screen." The Prince of Wales Hotel Church Street, Athlone, County Westmeath Tel: 09064 76666 Fax: 09064 91750 Email: [email protected] www.theprinceofwales.ie Tweet

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