Jay Bourke hopes to solve dispute with DCM Hotels

There appears to be some more trouble up at the mill for Jay Bourke, the suave but scrappy restaurateur and publican, who has had possibly more than his fair share of legal scrapes over the last few years.

The latest spat is with DCM Hotels, the operating company for Bellinter House, the rather cool country house hotel a few miles outside Navan that he co-owns with John Reynolds, the leading impresario and nightclub entrepreneur.

DCM is controlled by Cora Dwyer, the hotel's general manager.

DCM has filed a High Court case against Bourke and Reynolds seeking specific performance of an element of their contract.

Neither side would spill the beans on the exact nature of the row, but it sounds like they are both confident of sorting it out before it hits the court. Good. Bellinter, where it remains business as usual, is a top-class wedding venue and popular getaway spot and could probably do without the distraction.

Cool heads will surely prevail, which beats the sore heads sometimes suffered by the hotel's steady stream of well heeled guests, who will continue to attend parties there no matter what happens. DCM took over the operating of Bellinter a couple of years ago from Bellinter Hospitality, which was controlled by former Prem Group executive Peter Brennan.

Dwyer had previously served on that company’s board. She resigned a few months before its contract with the owners was terminated.

Bellinter aside, Bourke is keeping himself busy with his other ventures, Pygmalion, Eden Bar and Grill and Panti Bar, where the walls are probably still shaking following the excitement that ensued with the result of the recent marriage referendum.