Step into former shoe shop on country's first-ever pedestrianized street, made to measure in 1971 and with high footfall since

Cork's Princes Street pioneered the way forward half a century before a global pandemic put citizenry on the streets

Pedestrianisation work being done on Princes Street in Cork in 1971. Picture: Irish News/ YouTube

IT took exactly 50 years to catch on after Cork's pioneering Princes Street drove out the cars - but pedestrianization of city streets is today here to stay, thanks to the global pandemic and a belated embracing of outdoor dining, and trading.

Now, a shop on the very street which was the first in Ireland to go pedestrians-only back in 1971  is up for sale - ironically enough, as it has been vacated by a shoe shop.

No 2-3 Princes Street (ex-Korkys)

Princes Street led the way in Cork, and even nationwide, back half a century ago when it was resurfaced for foot-traffic, followed by Winthrop Street and then, slowly and incrementally, one or two more along the city's spine of Oliver Plunkett Street.

Interviewed 'live' for television at the time, when the street was being re-ordered, the tea retailer and later TD and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Barry was asked if he thought there was  a future for such a move, and he replied "I'm certain of it, in fact I'm sure that this is only the beginning of a number of pedestrian streets in Cork."

It came about, Mr Barry noted, after his fellow Princes Street traders had lobbied Cork Corportion for the move.

Princes Street. File Picture: Larry Cummins

Since Covid-19 knocked economies and city centres for six, Cork has again responded with permanent full-time pedestrianisation of 17 city streets under its Reimagining Cork City initiative, promoting social distancing, and outdoor dining, with close to dozen food and dining outlets combining and collaborating under canopies on Princes Street's other half, linking to South  Mall.

Fresh to market, No 2-3 Princes Street is up for sale with a €550,000 AMV quoted by agent Seamus Costello of Cushman & Wakefield, who notes the very high footfall traditionally, and who says it's a prime perch.

Just off St Patrick's Street and vacated by footwear retailer Korky's,  No 2-3 Princes Street adjoins a long-established Ann Summers shop, and is within a few metres of the ornate entrance to the famed and reinvigorated English Market, which by now is the country's best-known food emporium.

Also on the street are GameStop, beside No2-3 on the corner with 'Pana,' Starbucks, Iago's food store, FatFace, Ecco and some other shoe sellers,  Swarovski and, at the corner at 80 Oliver Plunkett Street, the Irish Examiner/Echo public shop.

Mr Costello is selling for a private family/ investor owner and he says there's "an excellent opportunity for an owner-occupier,  or an investor,  to acquire this prominent four-storey building."

It has over 2,300 sq ft, or 217 sq m ft) with 770 sq ft of retail at ground floor and additional accommodation overhead, 'though the frontage is probably not wide enough to allow separate access to the upper floor for conversion to residential (the building next door, with Ann Summers at the ground level, has overhead apartments done by developer Declan O'Mahony in that  former Cork TSB building.)

Future uses could be straight-forward retail, or tourism or food retail-related given the proximity to the English Market, 'though the street has seen the departure of Rocket Man since the pandemic struck in 2020.

Details: Cushman & Wakefield 021-4275454