Soaring 'ball of costs' behind closure of Nash 19 in Cork
Week Street, Christmas Wound Will Princes This Earlier Up Cork Traditional Be Break,
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She survived floods, a recession and a global pandemic but soaring business costs have forced one of Cork’s best-known restaurateurs to close her city centre restaurant after more than three decades.
Claire Nash, who opened Nash 19 at 19 Prince’s Street in 1992, in the heart of the city centre, spoke of her devastation at having to wind up the business.
“The ball of costs was out of reach, I just couldn't hold on to it, or the prospect of the coming year. I’ve nothing left in the tank,” she said.
Nash 19, based close to the city’s central business district, quickly became established as a firm favourite for breakfast and lunch, not just with the ‘South Mall suits’, but across the spectrum, and grew over the years to become an institution.
Ms Nash was known to many as the public face of Cork’s dining scene — a shrewd no-nonsense operator — outspoken, ambitious and well-connected.
She championed local food, local producers, and the city, including through her work with the Cork Business Association (CBA), serving for a time as its president.
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 post covid ‘eat on the street’ initiative which led to the pedestrianisation of Prince’s Street and its transformation into a destination outdoor dining venue.
That initiative, which made headlines around the world, was hailed as a template for how cities could recover after the pandemic, and the area thrived. Until the cost of living crisis kicked in.
With many city centre employers still offering a blended working option, office workers, many of whom were regulars in Nash 19, may only be in the office three days a week.
Against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis, many of those who used to eat out regularly have cut back.
But it wasn't just the cost of living crisis, or commercial rates, or reduced city centre parking that was at play here.
It was the combined and ever-mounting cost of running a business in Ireland that did it, with soaring electricity costs, Vat changes, and PRSI changes all coming to a head in recent months.
Like the 230 or so cafes and restaurants which have closed in Ireland since last July, those soaring business costs finally caught up with Nash 19 too.
As the difficulties mounted in recent months, Ms Nash said she “lost the joy of running a restaurant”.
She confirmed on Friday that the venue into which she poured her heart and soul has ceased trading with immediate effect, with the loss of 20 jobs.
The restaurant reported a busy Christmas and closed earlier this week for its traditional post-Christmas break, but it will not be reopening — the business is being wound up.
Liquidators have been appointed to her company, Mac Man Ltd, which was trading as Nash 19, and creditors have been notified of a creditor’s meeting early next month.
The latest accounts show that the company had liabilities of more than €250,000 at the end of 2022.
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.”
She said all of the variable costs and risks which face any business had combined to create “a perfect storm”.
“It is so disheartening to finish without a celebration of 33 years of giving to the city, to the industry I love, instead a forced closure,” she said.
It comes hot on the heels of two other restaurant closures in the city centre in just over a week — the Tung Sing restaurant which operated on St Patrick’s St for 60 years, and Pigalle, which operated on Barrack St for just over five years.
While new restaurants are opening, including on MacCurtain St and in Douglas, many small to medium hospitality businesses say they are fearful for the future.
Publican Paul Montgomery, whose group employs around 150 people in Cork, described the situation on the ground for hospitality as "catastrophic".
"We should be able to protect business like this, the owner-operators that make our cities what they are. What is a city without hospitality?
"It's obviously not all the state’s responsibility, but we need state support now.
"There was a post covid boost but at the moment, the consumer just can’t afford to go out.
"The cost of living is up, energy costs are up, add to that the increase in the minimum wage, the Vat increase, and the warehoused debt being faced from April. No business will be able to deal with that this year."
One Society Cafe on Dublin’s Lower Gardiner St took to social media to report that last week was their worst in two years, off the back of the worst 11 weeks in two years.
“Our wages were 53% of our turnover which spells doom if this continues. The riots were the final nail for our area,” they said.
Duncan Blair, of Blair’s Inn near Blarney, said he holds government wholly responsible for “the carnage that is unfolding before our eyes”.
“Quality unique local produce-based food businesses are being wiped out. But once their bottom line remains the same our inept and petty government couldn’t care less,” he said.
News of the closure of Nash 19 sent shockwaves through the city and hospitality sector, with many describing it as a loss for the region, for the city, and the Irish food scene.
The CBA urged the government to intervene to help small businesses like this which are facing escalating challenges which are being heightened by covid legacy issues and the war in Ukraine.
It said it briefed Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, and Minister for Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, throughout last year on the major issues facing businesses in the region.
Its Budget 2023 submission flagged issues including debt warehousing, increases in minimum wage, security costs, staff accommodation, inflation, high-interest rates, and upcoming challenges such as employer PRSI increases and mandatory pension contributions for employees.
CBA finance spokesperson, Dave O'Brien, a tax partner with Quintas, advised businesses to engage with their creditors, especially Revenue, and see what can be done about repayment schedules. “You should not be forced into repayment periods that are not sustainable," he said. "Revenue will often accommodate longer repayment periods but do need to be nudged in the right direction."
He also urged businesses to conduct a thorough solvency review, urging them to consider restructuring before resorting to closure, and to, if possible, avail of the relatively new SCARP scheme (Small Business Rescue Package).
“For instance, the SCARP scheme should be considered and will, we believe, become very relevant over the coming months and years," he said.
The CBA said it “remains resolute in its commitment” to supporting the small business community during these challenging times.
“By fostering open communication with government officials and advocating for practical solutions, the CBA will ensure that our community’s voice is heard, and drive to mitigate the adverse effects of economic hardships on Cork businesses,” it said.
Green Party Cllr Dan Boyle described the closure of Nash 19 as “seriously bad news”.
“That a high-volume business, and a linchpin in the revitalisation of Prince’s Street, is not able to survive, then questions need to be answered,” he said.
Ross Lewis, founder chef-restaurateur of renowned Chapter One, now a silent partner, and owner-operator of Lucio’s, said the industry is an "unbelievable perfect negative storm".
"The labour market is dysfunctional and costs are spectacularly high, the cost of food, the cost of drink and the cost of labour are eating up 60% to 75% of income and then you have rent, rates, all the other random sundry costs — the guy who came in to service the coffee machine last year for, say €160, is now looking for €240 for the same job and when you query it, he says his costs have gone up as well," he said.
“People were hit during covid, some people warehoused, some people didn’t — to survive the next six months, a business will need to be sitting on cash and not have too much debt.”
Denis O’Mullane, one of Cork’s most experienced and progressive restaurateurs, in partnership with Marianne Delaney in Liberty Grill, Café Gusto, Proby’s Kitchen (also with chef Pat Browne) and formerly a founding partner of Electric, said the closure of Nash 19 is bigger than just a restaurant closing.
"She (Ms Nash) is one of the faces of Cork food," he said.
"Everybody who came to Cork, every minister, every foreign dignitary, every guest from abroad, all were brought in to meet Claire who told them the story of local, Cork food, she was like an ambassador.
"It’s such an onerous task, and it didn’t pay her. She did so much: the long table dinners on the South Mall, pedestrianisation of Princes St, which paved the way for the rest of the city.
“I think there will be other local restaurants closing in the next few weeks, everyone is talking to their accountant, and some will never be able to pay warehoused debt — there is a feeling, a sense that there is going to be carnage.”
Tim Magee, the owner of Host, the food and hospitality PR company, whose clients include The Shelbourne, Chapter One, Hawksmoor, Ox Belfast, Restaurant Chestnut, Adare Manor, Fota Island Resort, and The River Lee Hotel, said a lot of people "carried a hangover from covid".
"And no one has been able to see behind the curtains until now and I’m not really that surprised at the amount of closures," he said.
"Every new year over the last few years has brought a new existential challenge: covid, energy costs, inflation, staffing costs, but behind each closure there are individual and differing reasons, single or multiple. The story this year is who was caught by warehousing.
"And one of the biggest challenges of all is staffing, not just the huge rise in staffing costs, but the fact that so many left the industry for good, especially from middle and upper management, the people who really knew what they were doing and now new, younger, inexperienced staff are going, ‘I don’t know how to do this and I don’t want to do this’ —and that problem is the same in Cork as it is in Dublin as it is in London as it is in Manhattan.”
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