‘The Pav’ nightclub and bar hits the market

Thu, 27 Apr, 2017 - 01:00

Tommy Barker

Launched this week at €950,000 is The Pav nightclub and bar, over three floors to the rear of the once elegant Pavilion and which includes some of the ornate barrel plasterwork cinema ceilings.

It spans 608 sq m in all, over its several levels and has frontage to Carey’s Lane, a pedestrian street linking St Patrick Street to Paul Street Plaza.

It has a ground floor bar, commercial kitchen, first floor nightclub/stage/live music venue and second floor stores, offices and smoking area, with considerable frontage to Carey’s Lane.

Part of the ‘Huguenot Quarter’, Carey’s Lane and surrounds area has high footfall, and a high concentration of cafes, bars and restaurants.

A significant-sized new retail unit is being created on the corner of Carey’s Lane at 83, 84 and 85 St Patrick’s Street, 50 metres from the new Capitol retail, office and Oyster Bar complex, assembled by Davy Private: this new retail space behind retained facades at 83, 84 and 85 backs onto and into the Pavilion property.

When built in 1921, The Pavilion was one of Cork’s earliest movie houses, capable of seating 2,000+, with a cafe. It ‘went dark’ in 1989, and was subdivided, ending in separate uses and ownerships. Its c4,000 sq ft of retail space, currently let to Golden Discs (previously let to HMV) , changed hands off-market this year for c €4 million, to a family trust buyer, via Lambert Smith Hampton.

The Pav entertainment venue was owned by a consortium, and has been rented to several operators in the past decade, and the sale does not include two retail (cafe and kitchen ware shop) units which also formed part of the original Pavilion’s presence on Carey’s Lane.

Selling agent for the The Pav is Cearbhall Behan of Behan Irwin Gosling (BIG) & Downing Commercial, who says trading has ceased at the nightclub and bar, and it’s offered for sale with vacant possession and with full, relevant seven-day licences, etc.

Mr Behan reports “considerable interest already from bar and restaurant operators.” “Cork city’s hospitality sector has seen a huge increase in activity, with numerous new openings in the city. We are inundated with operators seeking to get access to units in the city centre, but the availability of bar/restaurant units is so very limited.” And, as a result of the recovery in demand ‘key money’ is being paid for previous restaurant deals in the city centre, Mr Behan adds.

The ‘Huguenot Quarter’ has become synonymous for hospitality with current operators including new arrival Bunsen, Meatball restaurant, Café Mexicana, Nandos, Koto Asian restaurant, Amicus, Coqbull, Umi-falafal, Wetherspoons, Strasbourg Goose “and all of this means that there are a lot of late night users for this area,” Mr Behan points out.