Former Cork bank to be turned into music venue and hotel

Lifestyle & Sports
06 Apr 23

Recently acquired from a pair of seasoned hotel owners, the new hotelier of what was once Cork's National Irish Bank has plans to make the space into a new music venue.

Setting up in the city's South Mall, Cork is expecting a new hotel and music venue venture soon.

Permission to convert what was once a home for the Irish National Bank into a hotel was obtained back in 2019 by Ray Byrne and Eoin Doyle. It was originally meant to become a boutique hotel.

A recent change of ownership was disclosed to the Irish Examiner, with its new hotelier claiming that the hotel and venue will be geared towards the younger, "Instagram generation," complete with a "real 5-star feeling."

The Irish Examiner also calculated that the building was likely bought from Byrne and Doyle for about €3 million, although the actual price hasn't been disclosed.

Byrne, the owner of both the Wineport Lodge in Co Westmeath and REZz on MacCurtain St., admitted that they would have preferred to complete the hotel project themselves, but "we were made an attractive offer and are delighted to pass on the baton."

Business partners, Ray Byrne and Eoin Doyle also share ownership of the Eccles Hotel in Glengarriff.

Now, plans to turn the No. 71 location into a 58-bed hotel remain in the works under a new owner. Idealistically, plans for construction set the start date in mid-summer.

Part of the construction plans reportedly include adding two new stories and retaining the original ground floor designed by the architect William Caldbeck when the bank was first built in 1885. The current architect is Scott Tallon Walker.

An entrance onto Morgan Street at the back of the site was also proposed. The parking lot towards the end of Morgan Street, however, was not acquired in the purchase.

The new venue space isn't the only pipeline hotel in Cork at the moment. Other pipeline hotels in the area include a Premier Inn being built on the former Moore's Hotel site, a hotel being crafted out of the former Atkins/McKenzie building, a hotel on the site of will be the first Marriott-brand hotel in Cork, the Moxy Hotel and Residence Inn, and a 220-bed hotel on O'Sullivan's Quay.

In total, the five spaces should add about 700 bed spaces to Cork.