This multi-storied bookshop in Kinsale could be a bestseller

Chance to recreate Notting Hill page-turner at quirky €475k Kinsale bookstore with traditional shopfront and overhead apartment, reports Tommy Barker

Sun, 30 May, 2021 - 20:43

WILL it be a new chapter, a newly-penned sequel, or a surprise ending in the case of the sale of 8 Main Street, in Kinsale town centre?

Newly listed for sale, No 8 has traded as Kinsale Bookshop since 1998, run by Liam Barrett, a one-time owner of Blackrock Castle. He started the business just a year before actor Hugh Grant gave bookshop-ownership a starry twist in the 1999 movie Notting Hill with co-star Julia Roberts.

Brought to book? Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in the film Notting Hill.

For those hoping to meet their own passions between the covers of myriad titles, No 8’s one of just a handful of bookshops in the thriving tourism town, one also associated with writers, poets and artists for many decades in a town which also has a vibrant arts festival each year.

Kinsale Bookshop’s own website notes its speciality being strong in new titles of Irish interest and says it’s “the general bookshop of choice for both the Kinsale community and Kinsale’s many visitors, whether from other parts of Ireland/the UK or overseas.

The entire premises is now being sold and is listed with estate agent Michael McKenna who guides it at €475,000. He could describe it in its own right as “multi-storied” as the three-storey, older-era characterful property has residential accommodation on its upper two floors, so a buyer can live over the business, rent it separately, or simply buy as an investment and lease the ground floor for continued or varied retail uses.

Mr McKenna says the property, currently trading as Kinsale Bookshop, “is well presented and maintained throughout, and has potential for expansion (subject to planning permission,) as it has the benefit of a large open area to the rear.” He adds that the Main Street property is a prime area and close to many other niche businesses and restaurants, as well as bigger brands, with excellent footfall.

The building has 680 sq ft at the ground and almost 1,800 sq ft in all, with the overhead two/three-bed accommodation having separate external access.

“The arrival of Kinsale Bookshop to the market offers a unique opportunity to acquire a prominent retail premises with traditional shopfront, display windows and residential on the first and second floor located in the centre of the historic town of Kinsale, one of Ireland’s top tourist locations with colourful streetscapes, rich history and renowned harbour.”