Deirdre McGlone:  

“I was coming essentially to have my first interview. I remember driving down with my sister in the car, and we saw this guy in a tractor driving towards us. I turned to my sister and said, he’s cute. I didn’t know it at the time, but the young man we saw in the tractor was, in fact, Marc.

I started helping in the restaurant — doing the dishes, cleaning bedrooms — while Marc was in the kitchen, extremely quiet and without a word of English. In time, I made a deal with him: I would help him learn English if he would buy me the odd pint of Guinness. Needless to say, I taught him a lot of English, and we had plenty of pints together.

In 1996, we got married. After seven or eight years, there was no sign of children, but then, when we weren’t looking, we got three in a row. Marc left the kitchen, hung up his aprons, and went home to mind our firstborn, Carl. Meanwhile, the show had to go on — the business had to carry on.

I felt naturally inclined to continue working. Through good teamwork, we managed to raise three happy, healthy kids who love Harvey’s Point as much as we do. Being a woman in business has its challenges, but equally, I believe there are as many opportunities.

One night, we walked down to the pier in front of the hotel. The lights were on, and when we turned around, we saw the entire building in all its sprawling grandeur. We realized: my goodness, this is our house, our home, our business. It’s a moment I’ll never forget — seeing all those lights.”