Esther N McCarthy mixes it up with spins on kitchen classics, Munster-based design news plus an absolute diamond of a pouf

The Kilmacud Crokes-Craobh Chiaráin Dublin league game threw in yesterday morning at 10.30am.

A new phase of retail warehousing at Cork city’s Turners Cross kicks off this week, with tenants Homestore+More taking 26,000 sq ft close to the super-sized Woodies outlet, while DID Electrical are due to follow on the same site in another new build for which planning has just been granted.

A 158,000 sq ft retail park anchored by Woodies with six other tenants, and two undeveloped other sites, comes to market this week in a Tipperary town due 300 new tech job, guiding €2.6 million, which is well below build/replacement costs.

There should be wide interest, from all sectors, on No 40, Clareville Estate. 

The Great Bulb Exchange has just been launched by WEEE Ireland in association with the Irish lighting industry and hardware stores.

Irish headquartered building materials group and Woodies owner Grafton Group made a pre-tax profit of £101.2m (€142.5m) last year as the Irish and UK economies continued to improve.

BACK at the commercial market’s height, land in key Cork suburbs was fetching €2.5m/3m an acre.

A pensioner who took exception to the price of an item at a DIY store assaulted the shop assistant and stamped on his phone when he tried to call gardaí.

CORK Craft and Design have a lovely pop-up shop in Douglas Village shopping centre and you’ll also spot them in one of the glass pods on Cork’s Grand Parade as part of the Glow Christmas festival, stop by and say hello. 

JUST sold for year’s end, after 40 inquiries and a competitive tender process for a receiver, is the Kinsale Road Business Park in Cork - by the city’s busiest traffic junction, the Kinsale Road Roundabout, passed by 85,000 cars a day.

A 66-year-old woman who claimed she had been wrongly accused of not paying for a bucket and mop has settled her €38,000 damages claim for defamation against Woodies DIY Limited.

Pouladuff Road, Cork city €280,000

Carrying the sylvan-sounding name of Woodbine Chateau is this fascinating 1950s bungalow, near the Lough on Cork’s Pouladuff Road — and it’s well worth a peek.

Nama yesterday put its first retail park portfolio on the market for a guide price of €110m.

Whether your dad is a foodie, fitness freak or footie fan, and your budget is big or small, Carol O’Callaghan has it all wrapped up when it comes to the perfect gift.

CORK’S Blackpool Shopping Centre has a €75m valuation, as part of a €130m Nama first ‘Acorn Portfolio’ sale of Irish shopping centres, with 120 tenants.

Guided at just under €1m is the 71-bed Midlands hotel, the Creggan Court, part of a roadside complex in the centre of Ireland, at Athlone.

The former managing director of the Dixons retail operation in Ireland received a payoff of over €300,000 when he stepped down from the role last year.

The property investment firm Green REIT has invested €178m in three deals over the past two months, including the IN&M printworks in Citywest and the EBS headquarters in Dublin 4, as well as the commercial portfolio acquired from Danske Bank, according to its interim management statement.

The funds may be mean, but there’s no need to be mean-spirited when it comes to putting a new face on your interiors.

I’M trudging.

Woodies DIY is prepared to invest in a plan aimed at securing the survival of the Atlantic Homecare DIY store chain, the High Court heard yesterday.

Woodies DIY is prepared to invest in a plan aimed at securing the survival of the Atlantic Home Care DIY store chain, the High Court heard today.

Wallpaper is no brief fad, says Carol O’Callaghan, we continue to be seduced by its textures and shimmering surfaces.

The High Court yesterday appointed an interim examiner to the Atlantic Home Care chain after it heard there was a reasonable prospect of saving 234 of the 348 jobs at the majority of its nationwide stores.

Carol O’Callaghan says the kitchen is the hub of any house so make sure the look works for you

TURNOVER at builders’ merchants group Grafton last year grew by 2.5% to around €2.05 billion, the company has said.

BUILDERS’ merchants group Grafton is being linked with more acquisition movement as consolidation in the international merchanting sector heats up.

POSTAL services company CityPost has announced the creation of 180 new jobs which will be rolled over the next 18 months.

CityPOST, the independent postal services company, has today announced the creation of 180 jobs over the next 18 months.

THE sale of carbon monoxide detectors has soared over the last few days as homeowners scramble to ensure their houses are safe.

THE change in stamp duty on houses could help boost housing demand, analysts at Davy research suggest in a note yesterday.

Builders providers Grafton have announced a before-tax profit of €13.4m for the six months to the end of June, up from €3.7m in the same period last year.

Builders merchants and DIY retail group Grafton believes the end of the dramatic contraction in building activity here and in the UK may be in sight.

Builders' merchants and DIY retailers the Grafton Group said today that turnover for the first six months of the year was down €450m or 31%.

Building materials group Grafton has seen a 50% plunge in profits for the first half of the year, down from €106.4m to €53.4m.