The pub with a heated indoor pool under the floorboards in Malahide

Owners of opulent homes who have children to enjoy the expanses of space and garden will sometimes add the luxury of an indoor heated swimming pool. Although installed at great expense, they later discover that when their offspring fly the family nest, it sits there listless and fails to make a splash. And so big pool rooms are mothballed, not least because of the expense of dismantling them.

The owners of Fairacre, an upgraded 1980s luxury home at Swords Road in Malahide, Co Dublin, had a smart solution at hand when their family grew up. They simply adapted their pool room for a new use – by changing it into a pub, games room and general leisure area. Perfect for parties and entertaining friends and guests of a winter’s evening.

All they did was empty the 10-metre pool of water, prepare it for storage and then lay a timber floor over it. The result is a room expansive enough to provide for a full-sized bar with stools, a snooker table and enough floor underfoot for a full-on shindig for eighty. To crown it, the curved ceiling above is painted a rich bar room green.

But the pool is still there underfoot, protected and in full working order. The pump and all equipment are at hand, with all ready for use again should the house be sold.

Well, now Fairacre is on the market with the Kelly estate agency, seeking €1.8m. And new owners can enjoy the bar, rediscover the pool or, if they want to invest in the latest in retractable floors, have both in full working order and in interchangeable mode.

Fairacre at Swords Road in Malahide, Co Dublin, is a five-bedroom detached residence set on a half acre of its own landscaped and private gardens. Located near the Seabury scheme, it is a short walk from here down to the seafront near Malahide Estuary.

There’s more to Fairacre on the leisure front, for if a buyer wants to collect vintage cars, or simply enjoy a very large workshop space at home, the property also comes complete with two large purpose-built vehicular garages, one with a double entrance.

Over its years in the hands of its current owners, the part-red bricked home, with Edwardian style covered porches and bay windows, has been deployed to make the most of its capacity as a home in which to entertain.

The property is accessed via electric gates up to a cobblelock drive, and includes a striking water fountain and ornate pond to the front.

You enter the house via a porch into the entrance hall and then into a tiled inner hall with a feature bay window.

Off this is the double-sized kitchen and breakfast room area. This has a tiled floor, rustic feature brickwork and a fitted Stanley oven.

There’s an island unit for food preparation, and a Miele double oven, a microwave, dishwasher, fridge freezer, a gas hob and an extractor. Again the kitchen is designed with the entertainment of guests in mind.

Off it is a utility room plumbed for a washer and a dryer, and with a sink too. The gas boiler is housed here and there are fitted storage units, a guest WC and a door out to a double garage with electric roller shutters.

Also on the ground floor is a TV Room with a timber floor and recessed lighting.

For the big sit down meal with guests there is a formal dining room with its stained timber floor, solid timber beams overhead and a rustic fireplace and chimney breast made of Howth Stone.

From here, double interconnecting doors lead out to the main reception room, and then to a second reception room. Next comes the aforementioned pub and games room measuring more than 13 metres long.

A hardwood staircase leads up to the master bedroom with a very large dressing room (see photo) and its own en suite with his and hers sinks, a turbo Jacuzzi shower and a separate Jacuzzi bath. Bedroom two has an en suite, as does bedroom three, and then there’s a family bathroom with Jacuzzi bath and circular shower. Bedroom four has a dressing area and an en suite. Bedroom five has fitted wardrobes and recessed lights.

There’s also a home office, a garden house and a large steel shed.

Agent Noel Kelly has further details.

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