Put Cork's Outpost in your in-box: opportunity for ‘young blood’ to revive old favourite

€975k Bishopstown bar has redevelopment or rejuvenation scope

Thu, 09 Oct, 2025 - 10:00

Tommy Barker Property Editor

IT might have been a city outpost back in 1963 when Murphy’s Brewery opened a “tied” house in Cork’s then emerging suburb of Bishopstown and called it The Outpost — but the city has since spread far beyond, out past Curraheen to Waterfall, and further afield to Ballincollig past the expanded Model Farm Rd.

Currently for sale with a €975,000 AMV listed by agents Casey & Kingston, the Curraheen Road bar by the recently upgraded ‘small’ Dunnes is offered as a bar/off-licence premises in new hands, or as a development/redevelopment site in the heart of the western suburbs near the CUH medical campus and the MTU education stronghold.

As the ’burbs mushroomed, Murphy’s Outpost was taken on in 1968 by Denis and Betty Desmond who ran it for decades, as it became a hub for the local community for socialising and following sports events (golf, GAA, horse racing, soccer, etc) with many local teams’ shirts emblazoned with “The Outpost Bar”.

Famously too, The Outpost was involved in the longest running charity soccer match against the Swan & Cygnet, raising over €250,000 for local charities, instigated by Denis Desmond Sr, Jim Clancy, and Jackie Morley amongst others.

Denis and Betty Desmond’s son, Denis Jr, the youngest of the couple’s four children, took over in 2002 after the passing of Denis Sr, with longtime manager John Murray. In later years “it became a pub of two halves; college students from the now MTU and UCC becoming the mainstay in the lounge whilst the regulars enjoyed the bar side”, recalls Denis Jr; he turned the lounge into a successful Carry Out off-licence in 2011, as well as being one of the first venues to offer a minibus service to both collect and drop customers home.

The Sam Maguire Cup pays a visit to The Outpost

Having stopped the bar business but keeping the off-licence going (The Outpost is for sale with a seven-day licence), Mr Desmond says: “I think there’s a great opportunity for some young blood to take over The Outpost and make a good living from it.

“The Carry Out off-licence trades very well, but it needs a better knowledge of wine than I could offer.”

The centrally located Bishopstown property spans 5,000 sq ft on a profile site of 0.25 acres, according to estate agent Sam Kingston, who says it also has redevelopment scope for residential or commercial use, while vendor Denis Desmond adds: “There’s a niche here in Bishopstown for a simple food and drink offering also, this would do extremely well, I believe.”