Bagging Some Luggage That's Portable!

FLYING OFF to Ireland when I'll be road-testing a neat bit of kit that could save passengers a small fortune.

It's a jacket that's built to carry as much luggage as a small suitcase. And it means that passengersflying on budget airlines o not have to check in pricey bags.

You wear the Rufus Roo just like an ordinary coat but its six pockets can carry up to 15 kilograms of luggage – about the weight of a fully laden small suitcase or rucksack. And with some airlines charging up to £55 a bag – and the average family paying more than £200 just to take their luggage on holiday – then the coat costing £29.95 is something of a bargain.

It comes in a choice of five colours and really packs it in. On my flight to Dublin I managed to 'wear' my laptop, ipad, mobile, headphones, notepads, jeans, trainers, pants and socks as well as something to eat on the flight and a drink, my passport, wallet, credit cards, car keys, a washbag with stuff I'd bought through security - and I still had a bit of room to spare for the proverbial kitchen sink.

The Rufus Roo is the invention of Andrew Gaule from Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. He said: “If it brings down the cost of flying I’ve achieved my goal.” OK, you’re not going to win any fashion contests wearing it, but the Rufus Roo also doubles as a neat bag you can wear on your shoulder until you put it on as a coat at the boarding gate, thus leaving you free to take into the cabin you normal regulation hand luggage.

The Gold Standard in Suits and Shoes!

LIKE HIS FATHER and uncle before him in the menswear business, Jamie Gold doesn’t have much time for the notion of Dress Down Friday.
He’s the current man in charge of the company that’s been responsible for dressing up the Irish among others for generations.  And that company is not even Irish. It’s a Jewish no-frills factory outlet that operates selling quality suits, shirts and shoes from a big red building in London’s Golders Green.
Gold’s Factory Outlet – includes among its customers everyone from humble, every day labourers to multi-millionaires who park their Bentleys outside its famous premises on Golders Green Road.
The business has its roots in Petticoat Lane, the original home of the “rag trade” via 1960s Carnaby Street, and two brothers, Warren and David Gold, who worked together for 50 years. Warren died of a heart attack almost two years aged 77 and the north London business which has been running for almost 25 years passed to the control of the aforementioned Jamie, his son.
In the build up to events like the Cheltenham Race Festival or St Patrick’s Day or at Christmas, it was not unknown for Irish bigwigs in the construction industry such as the late John Murphy to park up outside and buy half a dozen suits at a time off the rails inside at Gold’s.
The firm operates a tried and tested business model and gets its ample stock from exactly the same suppliers that make suits for the more well known names on the High Street and West End shopping centres. It prides itself in never knowingly allowing customer to leave its store not looking good in something they have bought. As Jamie says, it’s not good for business.
The store boasts seven fittings for every size, up to 72 inch chest.
So go get yourself a bargain at Gold’s at their Big Red Building on Golders Green Road.
Tell them Frank sent you to get an extra discount and check out their website
: www.thebigredbuilding.com

A Stay at The Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin!

DID you know you can have your roots done at Dublin’s five-star Shelbourne Hotel? We’re not talking about your hair here, – although the hotel is more than capable of organising a shampoo and set. The hotel boasts its own unique butler in charge of researching guests’ genealogy, if they wish it

When guests book in ahead, they are offered the services of the genealogy butler and an assessment form. You provide basic information about your ancestors, giving their names, approximate years of birth, parents’ names and counties of birth, where possible. The butler then compiles assessment reports, which are presented to the guests on arrival.

Apparently, the butler – her name’s Helen by the way – can often obtain a vital document relating to an ancestor. And the sight of a faded piece of paper confirming a guest’s Irish roots has been known to reduce some to tears.

It’s all part of the service at this Dublin institution overlooking the city’s St Stephen’s Green – like having your bed turned down by a maid at night, or your shoes shined, or chocolates and fruit in your room.

Rightly ranking among the world’s greatest of hotels, The Shelbourne has been going the extra mile for its distinguished guests since it first opened its doors in 1824. In that year Tipperaryman Martin Burke set up in business after acquiring three adjoining town houses that overlook the famous garden square, the largest in the whole of Europe. The hotel has been at the forefront of Irish cultural and political life ever since.

During Ireland’s Civil War, The Shelbourne was home to the new Irish Army and from February to May 1922, its old walls witnessed the drafting of the Constitution. Bunreacht na hÉireann was drawn up in Room 112, under the chairmanship of Michael Collins. The room is now referred to as The Constitution Room. Count John McCormack, Seán Ó Riada, Patrick Kavanagh, Brendan Behan, Seamus Heaney – they’ve all stayed here as have President Kennedy and his wife Jackie, Maureen O’Hara, James Cagney, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Rock Hudson, Burl Ives, Orson Wells and Rita Hayworth.

The Shelbourne closed in 2005 for a re-furbishment costing squillions of euros. It opened afresh two years later with its five-star status, now aptly named as a Renaissance Hotel. The new Shelbourne has 265 bedrooms across eight floors, a restaurant called the Saddle Room and two bars, the famous Horseshoe Bar and No 27 Bar and Lounge, taking the place of the old Side Door restaurant, and intended to attract Dublin’s wealthy but younger set. And, of course, service is 24 hours.

The refurbished hotel now also contain the Lords Mayor’s Lounge, a great place to people watch over Afternoon Tea, 11 conference rooms and a ballroom. There are 19 suites, 11 of which are named after famous guests associated with the hotel’s past. The old gym has been transformed into a health spa and the hotel contains a business centre and executive lounge.

The hotel’s trademark window boxes have been kept, as have the long curtains and thick carpets, along with some of the furniture and antiques collected over the past 180 years. It all makes The Shelbourne appear even more opulent for its well-heeled guests. Silk-covered walls are home to a true treasure trove of Irish art, including in the lobby a large work by Louis le Brocquy, the leading Irish artist of the current century. Besides this, there are works depicting the characters in Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” by Barrie Cooke and Cian McLoughlin. In fact, the whole of The Shelbourne is something of work of art between marble floors and sparkling chandeliers.

British author Jeffrey Archer likes to boast that you’ll find the loo at his London penthouse first on the right after the Picasso. For information, the loos at The Shelbourne are downstairs first left after the le Brocquy.

No 27 Bar includes works by Belfast artist Victor Richardson of views around the Green while the renowned Horseshoe Bar remains right at the hub of Dublin’s pub culture, a meeting point for politicians and journalists, sportsmen and movie stars; a place for lively conversation and banter beneath some original Hogarth prints.

The Shelbourne with its modern day face on is the epitome of class, reflecting as it does the past and embracing the future. The grandeur of the setting is more than matched by the high levels of service at the disposal of its guests.

In the words of the renowned 19^th century writer Elizabeth Bowen: “The place seems to be thronged with the handsome, the hearty, the happy and the polite”.

Frank Murphy was a guest at The Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.

* For more information, contact The Shelbourne Hotel, 27 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2. Tel: 00 353 (0)1 663 4500, or go to:  http://www.theshelbourne.ie.