Baltimore’s last general store selling for €510,000

Cotter’s, the only general store in West Cork’s coastal village of Baltimore, is for sale.

In the heart of Baltimore, Cotter’s is long-established, having started out decades ago as a hardware store and boat/dinghy chandlery.

The building, overlooking the pier and harbour, was demolished and rebuilt in 1981, and comprises both shop and overhead accommodation.

Now, it’s for sale with selling agent, Charles P McCarthy, of Skibbereen, who prices the mid-terraced, three-storey property, at the Square, near seasonally bustling bars and restaurants, at €510,000. It’s Baltimore’s last standing general store.

There’s 1,200 sq ft of ground-floor retail space, trading as a Gala, with air-conditioning. It serves as a grocery, with deli, fuel sales, wine licence and news agency, and also has the local cash-dispensing machine, with an An Post post box at the front.

It adjoins the three-star, 13-bed Waterfront Hotel, owned by the Jacob family, who also have the adjacent Jacob’s Bar and the Lookout restaurant, as well as the Jolie Brise pizzeria/restaurant.

Baltimore is a humming holiday and sailing centre, and apart from a retail element, this property has five bedrooms and living accommodation, and could be converted to other uses, with scope for ground-floor living accommodation, suggest the selling agents.

On a scenic section of sheltered West Cork coastline, and serving ferries to Sherkin Island and Cape Clear, as well as sailors, and fishermen, Baltimore’s a popular village, “with a hugely expanded population in the spring, summer and autumn months,” says Charlie McCarthy.

Year-round population is circa 350, with regular through-traffic from island ferries.

Details: Charles P McCarthy 028-21533