Former Cork bank to be converted into hotel and music venue for 'Instagram generation'

The former home to the National Irish Bank, at No 71 South Mall, already has planning permission for conversion to a 58-bed hotel, obtained in 2019.

Former National Irish bank at South Mall. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

A former bank on South Mall is set to be converted into a hotel “the likes of which Cork has never seen” following its purchase by a prominent hotelier for a sum believed to be in excess of €3m.

It is one of five pipeline hotels in the city which, between them, will add more than 700 extra hotel beds.

The South Mall premises, at No 71, the former home to the National Irish Bank, already has planning permission for conversion to a 58-bed hotel, obtained in 2019 by Wineport Lodge owner Ray Byrne and his business partner, Eoin Doyle, but the duo have now sold on after receiving what Mr Byrne described as “an attractive offer”. 

The new owner of No 71 South Mall said his new venture will be geared towards a younger clientele. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Mr Byrne also owns microsleeper REZz on MacCurtain St.

The new owner of No 71, who did not wish to be identified, said his new venture will be geared towards a younger clientele — the “Instagram generation". It will also operate as a music venue.

Cork City is currently experiencing a hotel-building boom, with a new €45m c190-bed Premier Inn nearing completion on the former Moore’s Hotel site on Morrison’s Island. A spokesperson for developers Greenleaf Group said it should be completed late summer/early autumn, while Whitbread, owners of the Premier Inn brand, are planning a pre-Christmas opening.

On Camden Quay, work is well advanced on transforming the former Atkins/McKenzie building into a c150-bed hotel as part of a €50m development.

The site was purchased by Irish-Pakistani businessman John Kajani in 2020 and he is planning to open a Moxy Hotel and Residence Inn, the first Marriott-branded hotel in Cork City. Mr Kajani’s company, Carra Shore Hotel (Cork) Ltd, was also granted permission in December for the redevelopment of Nos 31-33 South Terrace into a 103-bed aparthotel, having previously been refused permission for a 146-bed aparthotel.

A fifth city-centre site where a hotel has been long mooted is back in play after developer BAM recently confirmed it intends to progress plans for a 220-bed hotel and offices on the long-idle site of the former tax office on O’Sullivan’s Quay.