Eat, sleep and drink Portrush… Paula Gracey finds the North Coast resort geared up for a tourism bonanza on NW200 practice lap for Open golf invasion
Paula (left) with pal Mandy Brown, from Spain, (right) and North West 200 hospitality MC, broadcaster Claire McCollum
HAVING made the pilgrimage to the North Coast every year for the famous North West 200 motorcycle races, for more years than we care to remember, we have stayed in many different places, from hotels to B&Bs.
All had something to commend them but none ticked every box from comfort to value and location.
One hotel of renown didn’t even have hot water on the morning of the race when a refreshed early start is essential; another requested patience over staff shortages causing delays in the breakfast room (if they are not fully staffed on the weekend of the North West, when are they?)
And then, finally, having found our happy place, an old coaching house B&B on the edge of town, Covid struck and its doors never opened again.
That left us at a loss as to where to stay when the spectacle returned until a friend ‘in the know’ recommended Albany Lodge which we must have walked by many hundreds of times on the main street and, to our shame, never noticed.
This gem of a guest house, passing seamlessly into the hands of obliging new owners since last year, has become our new favourite with its welcoming family atmosphere from the minute you walk through the door to be greeted by daughter Donna.
From the street it doesn’t look very big but it is like a Tardis inside with a variety of room sizes on the three floors.
From a sneak peak into some of the other rooms (if the doors are open – I don’t go barging in!), I can tell you they are all beautifully decorated, comfortable and like a home from home. Our favourite room is on the top floor with a four poster bed and Jacuzzi bath. I particularly love the blue and white wallpaper!
We love to sit in the comfy arm chairs at the window and admire the fantastic sea views – it looks out directly at the iconic Arcadia with a huge stretch of beach beyond it.
This year the weather was absolutely glorious and the North Coast was a joy to behold, basking in the sun.
Each room has a TV, iron, hairdryer, tea and coffee making facilities and a fridge – which is more than a lot of hotels have these days, for some reason.
The breakfast room is bright and cheery with the addition of an all singing, all dancing coffee machine – right up my street!
You can have a selection of fresh fruit, yoghurts and cereals or choose your cooked breakfast from the menu the night before and it will be ready for your chosen breakfast time.
When was the last time you saw the humble vegetable roll, once a staple of the Ulster Fry, on a breakfast menu? Here it is the star of the show, an ever so tasty sausage meat and onion combination from a local butcher’s homespun recipe.
It was another first for our friend, Mandy, over from Spain for her North West debut, and bemused as to how a sausage meat creation could be termed vegetable? Should sausage rolls not then be pastry rolls?
Confusion aside, she loved them and returned to Espana a convert.
Albany Lodge
There is a lovely downstairs lounge to sit in and comfy garden furniture outside so you can relax and people watch. You are within walking distance of everything – we made The Quays bar our base – and our only problem during North West weekend is parking, but that basically goes for the whole of Portrush!
Thankfully, those thousands of visitors flocking to showpiece events like the North West and Open golf are much better catered for than even a decade ago with a myriad of dining out options.
We always book our tables in advance for the North West and chose one old favourite and one new to us, only to end up somewhere else completely different.
Booking the highly recommended Neptune and Prawn as our first port of call, we were surprised to receive a call two days earlier to say they would be closed on the night of our reservation ‘because of the North West’. You would think that would be all the more reason to stay open but, whatever, they moved us to a sister restaurant, the Harbour Bistro, and it was superb.
Two cooked to perfection steaks and succulent seabass main courses were magnificent and, thanks to our server Adele’s recommendation, we enjoyed a shared starter of juicy salt and chilli prawns in a crispy crumb coating, just a tad on the spicy side.
Our old favourite Urban, positively reviewed here before, was familiarly enjoyable on our second night, from the generous sharing platters of breads, olives, stuffed peppers and pesto to start to our main courses of crispy salmon (twice) and a maple glazed gammon loin in bourbon, complete with roasted peach. It worked, really.
Special mention here, too, for our server, Olivia, who was a credit to the restaurant and to herself. Both establishments, in fact, can take a bow, for how they handled the hordes without fuss or drama on a practice lap for next month’s Open golf.
Oh, and on that note, young Master McIlroy is already making his presence felt down on main street where Bob and Bert’s cafe has been renamed Rory and Bert’s for the duration.
When it comes to the big events, Portrush is in pole position to get them off to a tee.
Four Poster comfort at Albany Lodge
