Popular Cork southside bar on the market

NEWS of the sale of one of the biggest southside Cork bars, the Ardmanning, has gone public.

After six months quietly on the market via a Dublin agency, Cork agent Frank V Murphy has been given instructions to sell, and the price of the 6,000 sq ft suburban bar is now down to just over 3 million.

It is one of the main premises belonging to a Dublin-based multi-pub owning group headed up by former banker Liam McNeill.

The same owners also have five or six Cork bars, some of which were offered to managers to buy prior to Christmas, according to Examiner sources.

The sell-off does not include the newest of the bunch, the Coal Quay bar on Cornmarket Street.

The Ardmanning is by the Lough bird sanctuary, in a densely populated residential area close to UCC.

A large and mature premises next to a successful SuperValu, it has a lounge and public bar, function room, conservatory and modern commercial kitchen, a keg cellar and three overhead two-bed en-suite apartments, all on a site of one acre.

The bar is between the Lough Tavern, the Hawthorn and the Deanrock bars all of which have invested heavily in recent years.

Selling agent Frank Murphy describes it as being "a sleeping giant," and says although in very good overall condition and currently trading very well, adds that it "has immense potential for further business expansion".

Details: Frank V Murphy and Co 021 4274204.