New Premier Inn for Cork city as planning granted for new hotel on Leisureplex site
The LeisurePlex site on the corner of MacCurtain St and Brian Boru St.
Cork city is set to get its second Premier Inn, after it was given planning permission for a new hotel on the Leisureplex complex site on the northside of the River Lee.
The city council has granted permission for the development, which had seen Premier Inn seek the green light for a 173-room hotel along with a public bar and licensed restaurant on site on the corner of MacCurtain St and Brian Boru St.
Its parent company Whitbread PLC acquired the Leisureplex site in February 2024, shortly after it opened its first Cork City hotel on Morrison’s Quay. That site south of the city centre comprised a €30m 187-bed hotel with this new development set to employ a further 40 staff.
The planning permission will bring an end to the Leisureplex at the site, which had been a popular haunt for decades, even including young Corkonians seeking to keep the party going post-Debs.
The history of the site dates back over a century, as it is where the Colisseum Cinema resided, but it is not the first time developers have envisaged a hotel for the site.
Planners originally sought permission for a hotel there in 2020, but the fresh application by Premier Inn lodged last year differs from those proposals.
One of these changes was the proposal that the building be set back significantly, compared to the existing planning grant, in recognition of nearby residential uses.
The plans also included a splayed entrance at the junction of MacCurtain St and Brian Boru St to reflect the form of the existing building, which will be demolished. However, the façade of the former postal sorting office would be retained, repaired and conserved.
Speaking when the planning bid was lodged, Whitbread’s development manager for Ireland Matt Gent said the Leisureplex was a “fantastic location for a hotel”.
“Over the last 10 months, we have been working hard as a team to re-work and improve the extant planning permission to suit the Premier Inn brand,” he said.
“Our proposal will create a high-quality new hotel building with an ancillary licensed restaurant and public bar, that will provide an attractive addition to MacCurtain St and the Victorian Quarter of the city centre.
“I’m proud of the proposed development we have submitted for planning, and I am certain our second hotel in Cork will trade well and will make a positive long-term contribution to the city.”
Cork City Council has originally sought further information on the development before deciding whether it would grant permission, including its relationship with the former sorting office, which is a protected structure and how it would address the sensitivity of the site.
In submitting this information, documents on behalf of the applicant said its plans would “significantly improve the character of the area and importantly, respect the special characteristics of the protected structure that forms part of the site and proposed development”.
Cork City Council has since granted permission for the development with 33 conditions attached.
Whitbread has been approached for comment.
