Crafty pub owner buys Dublin premises for Sober makeover

A Londonbridge address comes with a Dublin 4 pub buy — bought this week by a Cork-based publican, restaurateur and nightclub owner.

John Clarke & Sons, located by Londonbrige Street&, has been acquired for c €800,00 by entrepreneur Ernest Cantillon Jnr, owner of Cork’s Sober Lane, Electric, Fish Bar and part-owner of the Voodoo Lounge.

He is to rename the c 3,000 sq ft bar (near the Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, and the Grand Canal Square) Sober Lane, and confirmed he is actively looking for other bars in Dublin and Cork, and possibly Limerick and Galway as well.

The bar was bought via John Ryan of CBRE, and was in receivership with Grant Thornton, trading until last week. Mr Cantillon intends to invest a further c €200,000 to include a 50-seat restaurant. In Cork, Mr Cantillon is extending Cork’s Sober Lane from 2,000 sq ft, adding 800 sq ft at the adjoining former Cashman’s bookmakers on Sullivan’s Quay, and will call the new section The Crafty Bookmaker.

* Details: CBRE 01-6185500, www.soberlane.com