The Model Farm in Cork for sale: Popular bar and bistro on market at €1.2m

The venue evolved out of the mid-1980s established Tennis Village sports complex

Model Farm Bar and Bistro.

Cork bar and bistro The Model Farm, between the city’s western suburbs and booming Ballincollig, has been put up for sale with a €1.2m price guide.

The Model Farm venue evolved out of the mid-1980s established Tennis Village sports complex, later evolving into the Eden Hall Village student accommodation complex, with a bar and restaurant subsequently trading as McCarthys Bar.

It last sold in 2014, after three years in receivership, to former estate agent, ex-teacher and county councillor Pat Burton, who had trained in Ballymaloe after the sale in 2000 of the estate agency business Burton Crowley O’Flynn, to Sherry FitzGerald, for a multimillion-euro sum.

Mr Burton renamed the 929sq m premises the Model Farm and ran it successfully until his death in 2023 aged in his late 60s: It has been overseen since by Mr Burton’s wife Eileen and their son Peter.

It’s now listed with Lisney Commercial Real Estate with €1.2m guide, who say “the business is highly profitable and benefits from consistent patronage. With the area experiencing ongoing residential expansion, the Model Farm is ideally placed for continued business development.” 

This sale offer comes after the sale in 2023 of the Rendezvous bar and restaurant on the Model Farm Road for about €2m, with market reports of a pending significant Ballincollig bar sale also. The Model Farm is close to MTU and a number of new home developments as well as long-established residential locations, sports facilities, business parks and the CUH.

Trading over two levels, and set as part of the Eden Hall development and fronting it onto the Model Farm Road, the substantial Model Farm premises “has been meticulously maintained over the years by the current proprietors: It’s in excellent condition throughout", say Lisney’s Niall Kelly and Tony Morrissey, adding that “it represents a rare opportunity to acquire an established and successful licensed premises with strong repeat trade and significant potential for future growth".