Award-winning West Cork bookshop with links to Maeve Binchy goes on the market

Kerr's Book Shop, in business for 34 years, is being sold as a going concern

Kerr's Bookstore, 18 Ashe St, Clonakilty, Co Cork.

An award-winning bookshop with a built-in lifestyle, occasional celebrity visitors, and a link to Maeve Binchy, has just come to market in West Cork, offering the buyer a rare chance to turn the page on a new life chapter.

Kerr’s Book Shop, in the heart of the thriving coastal town of Clonakilty, is being sold as a going concern by owners Trish and John Kerr, and has a guide price of €595,000. Included in the sale is substantial living-over-the-shop accommodation.

The bookshop comes with strong endorsements, as a one-time winner of An Post’s Regional Bookshop of the Year award (2021) and, more recently, the February 2026 Faber & Faber ‘Independent Bookshop of the Month’ in the UK and Ireland.

Kerr's Book Shop, Clonakilty

Visitors to the store have included the likes of locally based Oscar-winning movie producer David Puttnam and Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons.

Trish Kerr — second cousin to late Irish author Maeve Binchy — has worked on building up the business since 1992, when the couple returned from a 16-year stint in North America.

The late author Maeve Binchy was related to Trish Kerr Picture: MaxPix

John knew the premises well as it has been in his family since 1906, when his late grandfather John Nugent opened a gentleman’s outfitters and drapery store, known as Nugent Outfitters. Following his grandfather’s passing in the 1940s, his two aunts, May and Kathleen, ran the business.

When the Kerrs started their bookshop in 1992, the premises had been unoccupied for three or four years and required substantial renovation.

“It was in a sorry state — every single blessed thing had to come out but we had a good contractor,” John said.

Trish said the independent bookstore is focused solely on selling new books and has been a strong promoter of local authors, with in-store book signings over the years featuring the likes of fiction writer Louise O’Neill (Asking For It, Only Ever Yours) and Alice Taylor, best known for her memoir To School Through The Fields and reflective non-fiction rooted in rural life.

Author Louise O'Neill has held book signings at Kerr's Book Shop Picture: Anna Groniecka

At 18 Ashe St, in the heart of Clonakilty town, Trish said it’s been a great venue for “community conversation and connections”. As the Kerrs lived above the shop, it was also a central meeting point for their three daughters and school friends over the years.

Interior of Kerr's Bookstore, Clonakilty

Trish intends to keep the 350sq ft store — where the business has gone from strength to strength over the past 34 years — “running, at its peak, until it sells”, with a longer-term ambition to join her husband in retirement.

“What we are hoping for is a family like us, entrepreneurs, who will love it as much as we have. It has been a real labour of love for me,” Trish said.

If a family were to buy it, they would acquire a substantial 2500sq ft, four-storey, four-bedroom premises in a central location in Clonakilty.

Selling the BER-exempt building is Andy Donoghue, of Hodnett Forde. He described Kerr’s Bookshop as “a cornerstone of the local community and a must-visit destination for book lovers”.

“It’s just such a unique opportunity, a chance for a real lifestyle change, and with accommodation in the centre of town to boot.

“It really is a rare and exciting opportunity,” the agent said.

He added that the business is being offered “as a turnkey going concern in a prime retail main-street location, together with a spacious and character-filled charming residence above the shop, all presenting in excellent order and decoration”.

Kerr’s Bookshop (www.kerrsbookshop.ie), located on the famed Wild Atlantic Way, is just minutes from Inchydoney’s beaches.

Mr Donoghue said: “Whether you’re a passionate bibliophile or an entrepreneur ready for your next chapter, Kerr’s Bookshop may offer you the perfect blend of business and lifestyle.”
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