We appreciate Rebekah Schilperoort's attempt to shed light on the challenges our business has faced recently. While we cannot profess to have knowledge of other restaurant operations along the Alki strip, we have been honestly baffled and saddened by the continuous, mean-spirited, personal attacks on our establishment by certain members of the Alki Community Council, of which we are members.

For a while now, improper and untruthful accusations have been lodged against us by certain members of the Alki Community Council, most vocally by a few board members who purport to "be concerned about the entire community." But, these Alki Community Council members' "concerns" about "restaurant row" are not founded in facts. In public meetings, they curiously refer to their mission as "preventing Alki beach from becoming Pioneer Square," which is ludicrous.

We are grateful that the Seattle Police and Washington State Liquor Control Board have repeatedly provided the Alki Community Council with facts and proof that the Celtic Swell and other restaurants on Alki are not contributing to incidents that the Alki Community Council board members perceive to make Alki a "destination drinking place" and have opposed the need for "Good Neighbor Agreements." Nevertheless, these particular Alki Community Council members seem blindly compelled to perpetuate their own flawed agenda - including their contention that our little Irish restaurant is primarily a "drinking establishment." We have heard that other restaurants on Alki have also been similarly attacked, and we do not understand how this shows concern for the entire community.

That is why we were quite touched by the letter sent to the West Seattle Herald by Beverly Barsy, an Alki resident who took time out of her day to voice her support of our restaurant. If Ms. Barsy did come into our restaurant after 9:30 p.m. (and we hope she will!), she would find that we serve our delicious food until very late at night, and that we have many menu items available until we close. But, better still, in our interactions with the hundreds of Alki residents who visit our restaurant each week to enjoy our Irish hospitality in the manner in which we have always intended, we have found that her sentiments are shared. We are so appreciative of the Alki community's continuous, kind and generous support, and consider so many of our patrons true friends.

When we first decided to open The Celtic Swell, our goal was simple: to operate a great restaurant that was open late with good entertainment that you would traditionally find in a pub in Ireland. Our goal remains that simple, and as our two-year anniversary approaches this July 30, we wanted to share with you an excerpt from the letter we sent out to Alki residents September 2004, a month or so after we opened:

"Hello, we wanted to drop you a note to introduce ourselves and tell you about the Celtic Swell Irish Pub & Restaurant, which recently opened on Alki beach. We are Gareth and Joleen Hughes, long-time Alki residents. Gareth is a native of Armagh, Northern Ireland and Joleen grew up in the Seattle area. It was our dream to open up a traditional Irish pub & restaurant with warm hospitality, a clean and comfortable atmosphere, outstanding large portions of home-cooked food and a wide selection of Irish beer and spirits.

"As residents of Alki (we live only five blocks from our pub!), we know the importance of taking care of our neighbors. We want to show you a good time and prove that we are the go-to spot in West Seattle. We are family friendly - bring in the kids, grandparents, neighbors, friends - large and small groups - all are welcome! We really appreciate you taking time to hear about the Celtic Swell, we hope to see you soon!"

We fully stand behind these sentiments to this day, and once again wish to sincerely thank the Alki residents for two years of solid and unwavering support, and we look forward to being part of the community for years to come.

Gareth and Joleen Hughes

Owners,

The Celtic Swell Irish

Pub & Restaurant