'Cost of doing business out of control': Cork restaurant Nash 19 to close
Larry Nash Cummins Picture: 19 File
Soaring business costs have forced one of Cork’s best-known restaurateurs to close her business after more than three decades of serving the city.
Nash 19, which was founded by Claire Nash on the city’s Prince’s Street in 1992, has ceased trading with immediate effect, with the loss of 20 jobs.
The restaurant, which reported a very busy Christmas, closed earlier this week for its traditional post-Christmas break, but it will not be reopening.
Liquidators have been appointed to Ms Nash's company, Mac Man Ltd, which was trading as Nash 19, and a creditor’s meeting is due to take place early next month.
After surviving several city centre floods, a recession and a pandemic, Ms Nash said she was devastated to have to pull the plug on her business.
“I just can’t believe that it has come to this,” she said.
“It is difficult to blame anyone or anything in particular, but the cost of doing business is unmeasurable, it is out of control and it has led me to the end of the road.”
Known as a shrewd business operator, Ms Nash has always championed local food and producers.
She played a key role in the city’s ‘long table’ midsummer event, in the Cork on a Fork food festival, and she spearheaded the ‘eat on the street’ initiative which transformed Prince’s St into a destination outdoor dining venue post covid.
The initiative made headlines around the world as a template for how cities could recover after the pandemic.
But when business costs, especially energy costs, surged following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Ms Nash said she “lost the joy of running a restaurant”.
The shock announcement is the latest in a raft of closures of small to medium-sized cafes and restaurants in recent months.
It has prompted fresh calls for urgent Government intervention to save what industry leaders say is now a “sector in crisis”.
Adrian Cummins, the chief executive officer of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, which represents 3,000 businesses employing 150,000 people, said soaring energy costs, the Vat increase, the increase in the minimum wage, and rising supplier costs have all combined to cripple the sector.
“I haven’t seen this scale of closures since the economic crash in 2012,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cork Business Association president Kevin Herlihy paid tribute to Ms Nash for her work for and on behalf of the city.
"We are absolutely saddened to hear of the closure of Nash 19," he said. "Claire Nash has been a driving force in business and the city for 33 years and the restaurant, and her presence on the street, will be sorely missed."
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