Backpacker chic

Frankie and Andy Hill’s Portrush Townhouse is like no other seaside hostel we’ve ever seen. LCN has been taking a look inside this charming seaside getaway where a little luxury needn’t cost the earth…

It’s not what most of us have in mind when we think of hostel accommodation: a self-contained apartment, cosy dorm rooms, a lounge with a wood-burning stove, a courtyard garden with barbecue facilities and ‘hotel quality’ linen.

But Portrush Townhouse is unique. It’s the only hostel in the province to be awarded five stars under Tourism Northern Ireland’s grading scheme.

It’s fitting recognition for the Bath Street business where up to 35 visitors at a time can be accommodated in surroundings that most budgeting back-packers would never imagine they could afford.

But this up-market hostel isn’t just for those cash-conscious travellers who are hiking around the world – it appeals to a wide range of holidaymakers, including families, who want a little comfort for their break by the seaside.

The proprietors of the Townhouse are Frankie and Andy Hill. Frankie is a textile artist and Andy, who enjoys all manner of outdoor pursuits, is proprietor of another of Portrush’s minor institutions, Trogg’s Surf Shop, which is located nearby.

For many years, the couple were in the habit of spending around three months of each year travelling abroad, during which times they often stayed in hostels:

“We used to talk about opening some sort of similar place back on the north coast,” recalled Frankie recently. “We eventually got around to doing that almost two years ago and we’ve been busy ever since.”

The Townhouse offers visitors a choice of accommodation, from conventional dormitory-style facilities to a self-contained studio apartment. Other free-to-use facilities include a self-service kitchen and a comfortable dining area:

“There’s a theme that runs through the entire house,” Frankie told LCN. “We’re in a coastal location here so we have this nautical look, we’ve whitewashed a lot of the furniture. With me being an artist, we have mixed media pieces everywhere in the house with original art work in all of the rooms that reflects the coastal theme that we’ve adopted.”

The Townhouse itself was built in 1857 and in renovating the Victorian building, the couple have tried to keep intact as many of its original features as possible. It regularly plays hosts to visitors and groups from as far away as Alaska, Australia and Brazil, all of whom, says Frankie, are thrilled by the Portrush hostel’s unique approach to its services:

“We’re very popular with families who often book the studio apartment because it’s self-contained and they’re able to mix with the other guests as it suits them,” she added. “We have dining and kitchen areas that are available to all the guests, which adds to the social aspect of staying in a place like this, and we find that all our guests will usually mix very well, there’s always a very pleasant atmosphere here.”

Thanks to the guesthouse’s connections with Trogg’s Surf Shop and its surfing school, guests are able to book dedicated ‘surf and stay’ breaks at Bath Street and take full advantage of Andy’s experience and the famous north coast breakers.

Frankie and Andy manage to take care of most of the hostel’s day-to-day duties between themselves, with welcome help from Frankie’s mum, Agnes, although at peak times in the summer, they do bring in foreign students on internships to help out. This has an added benefit in that it can help visitors feel more at home – and the students are able to practise their language skills while they work.

“We also differ from a conventional guesthouse in that we don’t have breakfast at a set time and we don’t close the doors at a set time either,” added Frankie. “All the guests have their own keys and they can please themselves by coming and going as they like.”

As for promoting the facilities available at the Townhouse, Frankie said that the internet was very useful, but that there really was no substitute for word-of-mouth publicity:

“This year isn’t quite as good so far as last”, she conceded, “that’s the thing about Portrush, the business comes in peaks and troughs, this is a very seasonal trade. But we have been here for 25 years and so we’re well able to work with that pattern of summer business. I think that summer this year is going to be good and we are already fully booked for this year’s North-West 200 races.”

Frankie believes that the personal service that guests receive when they stay at the hostel is just as important as the facilities and she spends a lot of time with visitors, making sure that they know about local attractions and helping them plan their trips.

As for the future, she’s not looking for radical change:

“In a couple of years’ time, I hope we will still be looking after basically the same business,” she remarked. “And that we’ll still be achieving the high ratings that we’re getting now. I would also like to see us being able to extend the season a little. It’s short at present and the winter can be very long. We think that we will be able to do this by focusing more on our group business such as church and youth groups. We’re also going to be looking at geography field trips this year and trying to get schools to book the whole hostel for that.”