Cornamucklagh House and Narrow Water Lodges feature on At Your Service this Sunday 27 September at 6.30pm.
An Omeath hospitality story that began with bringing a much-loved pub back to life after a four-year closure and grew into a new luxury accommodation business will feature on RTÉ One’s At Your Service later this month.
The episode, airing on Sunday 27 September at 6.30pm, follows Cormac King and his parents, John and Marion King at Cornamucklagh House in Cornamucklagh, Omeath, as hoteliers John and Francis Brennan help them prepare for the next chapter of the family hospitality story.
Cornamucklagh House has roots as a public house dating back to the 1830s and has been run by the King family since 2006. It closed when Covid restrictions began in 2020 and remained shut for over four years. In 2024, Cormac left his food and beverage management role at the Europa Hotel in Belfast and returned home full-time, reopening the family pub in June that year.
“I grew up in this pub, so watching it sit closed for four years was hard. Reopening it mattered to us, but we also had to be honest about the future. A rural pub could not simply wait for everything to go back to the way it was before Covid. We needed to give people another reason to come here and a reason to stay.”
That thinking led to Narrow Water Lodge with six private luxury lodges opening in April 2026. They combine a quiet, comfortable stay with the warmth of a traditional family-run pub only a walk through the gardens away.
“The lodges are not a move away from Cornamucklagh House. They are a way of building around it. Guests can switch off somewhere quiet and comfortable, then come across to the pub for a drink and a bit of local hospitality. Each business gives the other a stronger future.”
The At Your Service team followed the project as it moved from development towards opening, with John and Francis Brennan reviewing the concept, operation and guest experience. The brothers officially opened Narrow Water Lodges in April 2026.
“Having John and Francis involved made us look closely at every part of the experience. It is one thing to have an idea, and another to build it, open it and have cameras recording the difficult bits as well as the good ones. The episode is an honest look at what it takes for a small family business to diversify.”
The location adds a wider regional dimension to the story. Narrow Water Lodges sits beside the construction site of the new Narrow Water Bridge and near the Carlingford Lough Greenway. Due for completion in late 2027, the 195-metre bridge will carry vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians between Cornamucklagh and Narrow Water near Warrenpoint, creating a direct connection between the Cooley Peninsula and the Mournes.
“The bridge did not create the idea for the lodges, but it gave us added confidence in the tourism potential here. The Greenway is already giving people another reason to explore the wider area, and the bridge will create an entirely new connection. We want to help turn that movement into overnight stays and local spend. What is good for the area is good for us all.”
At Your Service featuring Cornamucklagh House and Narrow Water Lodges airs on Sunday 27 September at 6.30pm on RTÉ One.