Re-Opening Armagh Prison ... For Paying Guests

The venerable prison of Armagh, owned by the city council, 230 years old and at the moment disused, is to open again. As a hotel. The redevelopment will be similar to that of Oxford Prison - reinvented as the Malmaison Hotel.

Reusing old prisons is a tough theme in Northern Ireland. Many want to keep the prisons as reminders of (real or perceived) injustices, others would rather erase them from the landscape altogether, freeing up prime real estate in many instances. And as the former prisons in Kilmainham and Wicklow Town prove, they can be a tourism attraction too.

In a comment on the Armagh redevelopment, former inmate was quoted as follows: "I just hope the food is better now!"