The Sandymount Hotel's History

THE SANDYMOUNT HOTEL - A BRIEF HISTORY

The Sandymount Hotel is steeped in a rich history that stretches back over 250 years. 

THE OLD HAIG DISTILLERY (1769-1860)

The distillery founded by Robert Haig, of the famous Scotch Whiskey family, was powered by a sluice wheel on the river Dodder. Notorious for his conflicts with Revenue authorities, rumours told of excise officers who mysteriously "disappeared". Haig eventually succumbed. A local builder purchased the buildings including a great quantity of copper tubing and machinery.

In 1866, bricks from the old distillery were used to construct the Victorian terrace of houses making up the hotel today.

ARISTOCRACY (1866 - mid 1900s)

In the following decades, Dublin’s aristocracy moved to the suburbs, abandoning large inner-city houses to become tenements. Thus Herbert Road became home to Dublin’s wealthy class. Residents include the family of Sir Henry Robinson (Vice President of the Irish Local Government Board 1879-1891), and their domestic servant, Mary Whitty. In the years following the establishment of the Irish Free State, many of these families left for the UK. 

LANSDOWNE ROAD (AVIVA) STADIUM (1872)

Lansdowne Road Stadium, named in tribute to the third Marquess of Lansdowne, is the oldest international sporting venue in the world. In 1875 Ireland met England in the first ever athletics international. In 1878 England beat Ireland in the first rugby international in the grounds. In 2007 the dreary old edifice was demolished to be replaced in 2010 with the magnificent Aviva Stadium.

MOUNT HERBERT HOTEL (1955)

In 1955, George and Rosaleen (McConn) Loughran, a young couple from Northern Ireland, set up a small B&B on Herbert Road. The family all helped out, even sharing one bedroom at busy times. In the following decades, adjoining properties were acquired and eventually the business expanded to become a luxury 4* hotel.

Because it did not have a public bar, it was known as a “Temperance” Hotel. Ireland at that time had an ethos of alcohol abstention. Today guests can enjoy a relaxing drink in the Line Out Bar overlooking the hotel’s beautiful, landscaped gardens.

THE SANDYMOUNT HOTEL (2010)

In 2010, the hotel rebranded as Sandymount Hotel to identify with the nearby village of Sandymount, one of Dublin’s most exclusive residential districts with its charming village green, Strand and Beach Promenade.

Also in 2010, our iconic 5 metre bronze rugby sculpture “Sandymount Lineout” marked our location as the closest hotel to the magnificent new Aviva Stadium, home of Irish rugby. 

A CONTINUING LOUGHRAN TRADITION (2025)

70 years on, Gerard Loughran, grandson of George and Rosaleen, proudly continues their legacy. No hotel in Dublin has survived longer in the same ownership.