PHOENIX LIKE, a great coaching inn, Benner's Hotel of Tralee, has risen from the rubble and dust to become the Tralee Court Hotel.
The old hotel, well known to generations, was a landmark, and its dining room was famous far the kind of meal that would cuisine minceur gasping for air.
Hairy bacon, spuds and cabbage were delivered in the days gone by in great quantities. Benner's didn't have an affected style, but it had style.
Its metamorphosis tells a lot about what is happening in Tralee of course, the fact that the outgoing Tanaiste, Mr Spring, resides in the town, the centre of his constituency, had a lot to do with it.
The new hotel has more or less retained the old facade of Benner's as well as the courtyard, a throwback to more leisurely times when the stagecoach left Tralee for Dublin.
In 1832 a single ticket cost £2 10 shillings. In those years it was the Blennerhasset Arms. The Benner family took it over in the 1920s.
The Earl of Wicklow came to own it at one stage, then the O'Callaghan family were mine hosts in the mid 1970s.
Charles Stewart Parnell addressed a rally there. Daniel O'Connell was a guest. It was the headquarters for the legal profession in Kcrry as they travelled the county. Long before that, it was famous for its regimental concerts in the garrison town. The influence of the garrison had been so great that when the founders of the GAA attempted to spread their message in places like Tralee, they found that cricket was the most popular game.
The new hotel has retained the traditional links with the legal profession by establishing the impressive Court Bar. In October 1995 the Lyne family purchased Benner's and in July 1996 it was demolished.
It has been redeveloped at a cost of £24 million, with 45 bedrooms, and a stone plaque on the gable wall will depict the rich history of the establishment.