Detailed Review
A part of the Dublin scene since 1852, The Clarence Hotel was purchased in 1992 by two members of the rock group U2, Bono and The Edge. They took on the task of restoring The Clarence, creating their own vision of the ideal place to stay. Its design merges the traditional and the contemporary to create an environment with its own unique and welcoming personality. Arts and crafts style frames the basis of the interior with a subtle palette of the finest natural materials: Portland stone, American white oak, Italian limestone, leather and velvet.
Press Quotes
“Stop for a cocktail in the Hexagon Bar or stay in Joyce-land at The Brazen Head on Winetavern Street, Dublin’s oldest pub, where live traditional music drowns out the traffic.” Independent 06
Independent Reviews
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“U2 has given this classic Regency hotel a facelift, transforming it into a hotspot in Dublin that ages as well as the band.”
TI’s favourite boutique hotel in Dublin. We love the way its designs haven’t dated – neither has the service – and that U2 pop in for drinks. The building is lovely and unusual, with arts-and-crafts flourishes and lots of ecclesiastical light. Cool and unpretentious.
The Clarence
By Angela Moore
The Clarence is given immediate cachet by the fact that it’s owned by two members of U2, Bono and the Edge. “The boys”, as the staff fondly call them, stay here when they’re in town.
Inside, it’s arrestingly unique. It has been a hotel since the 1850s, when it was a favourite resting place for clergymen and nuns. When “the boys” bought the hotel and refurbished it completely in 1996, they stuck with this ecclesiastical theme. The results are cathedral-high ceilings, limestone floors, gorgeously solemn arts-and-crafts windows that flood the sitting room with light and plenty of pale oak panelling. The low leather bucket seats are in the jewel colours of a cardinal’s robes: crimson and royal blue and purple and chocolate. Modish sculptural lighting matches the flower arrangements and the huge, muted modern paintings in the walls. Considering it was designed ten years ago, it has aged amazingly well - but then again so have U2.
Follow a hallway through to the Temple Bar side of the hotel to find the eight-sided Octagon Bar, below its octagonal dome, where an eclectic collection of Dubliners come to eat, drink and gossip in the bar’s tiny snug. The Tea Room restaurant is in what was the original ballroom – it’s rather like a chapel, with another soaring ceiling, streaming light, white oak and whiter linen, and private dining in a minstrel’s gallery.
The rooms
Rooms are more contemporary than the rest of the hotel but have the same high levels of detail in their custom-made features, like the light fittings. There are witty touches playing on the church theme – stained glass bedside lamps, coloured glass in the candle sconces on the walls. Beds and furniture are Shaker-style in the same white oak as elsewhere in the house – big, solid, comfortable, piled with white linen. As you would imagine, music systems are absolutely top-notch. Smart bathrooms have over-tub showers and pots of custom-blended aromatherapy gels and lotions.
Rooms at the back of the hotel have little balconies that give a view over Temple Bar, with the sea to your left and Guinness land to your right. Light sleepers: it’s probably worth keeping in mind that Temple Bar is where Dublin comes to party; you may do better with a room at the front facing the Liffey. Better still, take the sexy duplex penthouse: two master bedrooms with their own baths, a living room, a dining room, a full kitchen and a blow-out full-length loft with baby grand piano, bar and hot tub outside on the roof terrace. Now that’s rock’n’roll!
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