Starbucks ordered to remove signage from Cork building

A Starbucks coffee shop has been given two months to remove signs from the 300-year-old building where it opened without planning permission in Cork city centre.

The requirement is a condition attached to planning approval given this week, from Cork City Council, to the outlet on Emmet Place.

An Bord Pleanála said last March the use of this and two other city properties as Starbucks outlets required planning permission.

The multi-national chain had claimed the proportion of takeaway sales brought the outlets within the definition of a shop, so they did not need change-of-use planning for the premises as they were previously in retail usage.

A subsequent planning application for one of the outlets, on Cork’s Princes St, was successful in September. The council included conditions that required a lit mounted wall sign to be removed before the end of the year.

The application for the Emmet Place building, built around 1720 and previously used as offices and a clothing shop, was submitted in April.

It sought permission to retain its use as a coffee shop, as well as the retention of signs above the door on Emmet Place and on Opera Lane, the shopping street which the side of the building fronts.

While the council has permitted the change of use, meaning it can continue in use as a coffee shop, it has required the applicant firm, Nomtin Ltd, to remove a number of signs.

One is a backlit box sign on the glazed elevation fronting Opera Lane which the council says may be replaced by a similar sign behind the glazing if it fits the width of the door frame.

Another black vinyl sign must be removed from the upper panels of the glazing, the council has said.