Enniskerry locals were sad to see the barista-and-baker pair of Andrew and Santina Kennedy shuttering their village cafe, a popular coffee-and-gossip zone. A combination of home baking, a good brew and well-heeled customers in gym gear and jodhpurs gave the Co Wicklow cafe a jolly feel straight out of a Jilly Cooper novel.
Now the pretty double-fronted building on Church Hill that housed their business is on the market with DNG, which is taking the unusual step of putting it to auction. The building, which has a one-bedroom apartment upstairs and the village Christmas lights tucked under its eaves, goes under the hammer on November 29th with an advised minimum value of €265,000.
The price seems on the low side for what could be a combined business and home in a prestige location, and according to locals there has been a stream of viewers since the board went up last week.
Even if you didn’t want to run it as a business the former Kennedy’s of Enniskerry building would make a nice house, said one local, who added that there’s a definite trend of residents in the surrounding countryside keen to move into the village.
Enniskerry could be considered a dormitory for Dublin, with its swathes of executive-style homes in the Eagle Valley enclave. The Powerscourt Hotel, once the Ritz-Carlton, provides a healthy flow for visitors and tourists to the village, whose businesses include two further cafes, of which Poppies is the most enduring, the Powerscourt Arms Hotel, a handful of upmarket boutiques and gift shops, a long established pharmacy and a Spar supermarket.
The village, which is home to Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross, has potential, according to one local, who pointed out that a former restaurant is being converted into Airbnb-style accommodation.
DNG seemed to be kept busy with inquiries. “You’re the fourth phone call I’ve had on Kennedy’s this afternoon,” an agent at its Bray office said. Sounds like an auction worth watching.
