Two popular Cork City pubs up for sale for a combined price of €3.35m

Sellers are the Seán McCarthy-led local hospitality group who disposed of Soho bar/restaurant on Grand Parade in 2023 for a rumoured €5m.

Thu, 26 Feb, 2026 - 13:23

Catherine Shanahan

MOVEMENT in the bar trade continues apace in Cork City with the arrival to market of two landmark hospitality premises, Tequila Jacks and Paddy the Farmers, with a combined guide price of €3.35m.

Tequila Jacks, a popular Mexican restaurant and tequila bar on the waterfront on Lapps Quay, is guiding at €1.45m, while Paddy the Farmers — along with nine overhead apartments — has returned to market with a new agent and a slight drop in the guide price to €1.9m. On a previous outing in 2022, it had a guide price of €2m.

Agents handling the sale, Lisney CRE, come to it on the back of having just agreed the sale of bar/restaurant The Model Farm at the guide price of €1.2m.

The buyer — from Cork — is not a publican but is in the restaurant business and plans to build on food sales at The Model Farm, which currently accounts for the bulk of business. The premises is at the entrance to the Eden Hall development, on Model Farm Rd.

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Tequila Jacks on the Lapp's Quay boardwalk.

Vendors of Tequila Jacks and Paddy the Farmers are the Seán McCarthy-led local hospitality group who disposed of Soho bar/restaurant on Grand Parade in 2023 for a rumoured €5m. Last year, the group handed over the running of Douglas pub the East Village to hospitality duo Gillian McCarthy and Patrick Dillon, after 20 years in business.

The arrival to market of Tequila Jacks and the relaunch of Paddy the Farmers is one of several notable shake-ups in the bar/restaurant trade in the past 12 months. Late last year, the Flying Enterprise complex, run by longstanding owners Finbarr and Dolly O’Shea, sold for more than €5m to a local buyer with international backing. The complex includes multiple buildings and a central courtyard on a 0.5-acre city-centre site.

The transaction was one of the largest licensed premises’ sales in Cork and across Munster in 2025, underlining strong investor appetite for well located pub and hospitality assets.

This year got off to a flying start with confirmation that well-known publican Paul Montgomery had bought suburban pub and restaurant, the Wilton Bar, for north of €3m, with a further €1m in upgrades pledged. Mr Montgomery owns and operates multiple hospitality venues, including Clancy’s on Princes St, JJ Walsh’s Irish Bar, Mamacitas, and Wilde, as part of the Clancy’s Group.

Another significant move was the decision by Cliste Hospitality to put the Viaduct bar and restaurant on the market for €1.6m.

The venue, on the N27, in the shadows of the Chetwynd Viaduct, is for sale by tender with Rob Coughlan of Cohalan Downing and enquiries so far are around continuing to trade and for alternative use. Mr Coughlan is also close to completing a deal on Washington St/Western Rd venue Reidy’s Vault Bar, which will remain as a hospitality outlet.

The pub and two adjoining investment properties were put up for sale in 2023 with a €1.4m guide. A deal is also well advanced on the former Bull McCabe’s pub on Airport Rd where the potential buyer has alternative use in mind. It went on the market for €650,000 but is likely to sell “significantly in excess of the guide”, Mr Coughlan said.

Tequila Jacks and Paddy the Farmers, both being sold as going concerns, enjoy strong trading profiles and have been continually enhanced by the current owners. The former, a mix of casual dining and lively nightlife, is prominently located on Lapp’s Quay, near the Clayton Hotel, and close to the city’s central business district on South Mall.

It’s presented in excellent trading condition and includes a substantial floor area of 764sq m over a single floor, with generous bar space, dining space, and outdoor seating overlooking the quays. The premises enjoys excellent prominence and visibility, positioned along a key city centre thoroughfare with consistently strong pedestrian footfall from shoppers, office workers, students, and tourists alike. Footfall is expected to be further strengthened as regeneration of the nearby Docklands gathers pace.

The property includes a ground-floor licensed premises forming part of a five-storey mixed-use development in the established City Quarter. Accommodation is laid out to include a public bar area to the front of the premises with a large function area /dining area to the rear, together with a fully equipped commercial kitchen, along with ancillary accommodation including customer toilet facilities, staff areas, cold rooms, storage, and service accommodation.

The property has a dual-aspect configuration, with a principal entrance from Lapp’s Quay and a secondary entrance from Lower Oliver Plunkett St.

Extensive glazed frontage ensures strong natural light, and it has the benefit of retractable glazing opening onto the pedestrianised quayside.

Niall Kelly and Tony Morrissey of Lisney, who are handling the sale, said that Tequila Jack’s represents “a rare opportunity to acquire a landmark licensed premises in a prime hospitality setting with an established brand identity and proven profitability”.

“Tequila Jack’s is a standout hospitality asset in a prime Cork city trading location,” Mr Kelly said.

“The business enjoys strong turnover levels. With continued growth in tourism and city centre activity, the property offers considerable scope for further business development.”

Meanwhile, the long-established Paddy the Farmers, which occupies a high-profile corner site at the junction of Summerhill South and the Old Blackrock Rd, is on the market for €600,000, with the option to also buy nine self-contained overhead apartments, which are guiding at €1.3m, bringing the entire lot to €1.9m.

The apartments currently generate around €140,000 in annual rental income, providing what the agents describe as a “valuable and diversified income stream”.

Lisney agents Tony Morrissey and Ger O’Callaghan said the public house/apartment combination provides “a valuable and diversified income stream” and offers “a compelling mixed-use investment opportunity in one of Cork's most affluent suburbs”.

“This is a unique opportunity to acquire a high-profile mixed-use asset with both operational and investment appeal,” Mr Morrissey said.