The Olde Railway Hotel, one of the Mayo town's best known landmarks and a favourite of clients as diverse as U2's Adam Clayton and his then fiancee supermodel Naomi Campbell and former Taoiseach John Bruton, goes to auction on 6 April next.

Agent Peter Tuohy of Tuohy Real Estate Alliance expects strong interest in the building, which stretches for over 60 metres along the town's North Mall.

The hotel is owned by Karl Rosencranz, son of Vera and Edmund Rosenkranz who also used to own the Hotel Pierre in Dun Laoghaire.

The famous Mayo hostelry was first immortalised almost 200 years ago when William Makepeace Thackery described it as "one of the prettiest, comfortablist Inns in Ireland".

Since then, it has gone on to win many awards, including five recent Egon Ronay recommendations.

The hotel is known for its discreet charm and atmosphere of a bygone era. It has 27 rooms, many with 12ft high ceilings, and among its quirky attractions in the public lounge bar is Karl Rosencranz's own collection of 12 authentic cinema posters, some of them six foot by six foot, which were originally used to advertise the film The Quiet Man which was filmed locally.