A Protected Structure · Castlebridge, Co. Wexford
Gifted to the village in 1984 and closed since 2019 — a community-led project to bring the Reading Rooms back to life.
Where we are now
The Reading Rooms is a Protected Structure — listed on Wexford County Council's Record of Protected Structures (ref WCC0544) — sound but closed. The barriers to reopening are legal and administrative, not structural — and the village has come together to clear them.
Gifted to the village in 1984 through the Nunns' company (by then part of the Guinness group), the building was kept in good repair by the community through the 1980s and 90s — a new slate roof, replastering, windows, heating. It has been closed since around 2019. After more than forty years, the original trust arrangements now need to be renewed before the building can be insured, restored with heritage funding, and reopened.
A community trust is being formed to do exactly that. Read the full story →
The room where a record began
In 1951, a shooting party on the nearby North Slob led to a dinner-table argument at Castlebridge House over Europe's fastest game bird. No reference book could settle it — and Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of Guinness, saw the need for a book that could. Four years later, the first edition of what became the Guinness Book of World Records was published.
The record books return to the Reading Rooms for special occasions — most recently during the Fleadh Cheoil. Few small buildings anywhere can claim a thread to a story read in every country on earth. More about the building and its history →
How you can help
Give your time
Join the committee, offer a skill, or lend a hand at a volunteer work day — dates are announced on our News page. New members are welcome.
Stay in touch
See how the restoration is moving, meeting by meeting, and hear about open days as they're planned.