Former 'Pav' nightclub and bar gets ready for new operator
Of Pavilion The Is Well Lane Entrance To Known Nightclub/restaurant Operator Set Former On Section Carey's Old With The F&b A Lease Cinema,
A “well-established” food and beverage operator has agreed a deal to lease a popular Cork City nightclub venue, housed in what was once the iconic Pavilion Cinema.
Known as the Pavilion Bar and Nightclub for much of the past 30 years — with the exception of the last two years when it operated as Dali nightclub — the Carey’s Lane premises ceased trading following the arrival of Covid-19 last March.
Owner Dave Dwyer, who opened a Ramen Asian street food restaurant on the ground floor of the licensed complex in December 2017, shut up shop on March 16 on foot of the pandemic restrictions. The overhead nightclub, Dali, also ceased trading.
“It was a Covid-related decision,” Mr Dwyer said.
“It’s simply not possible to operate a nightclub under an open/close traffic light system.”
The deal with the new operator is being handled by Cearbhall Behan of Behan Irwin Gosling including Downing Commercial, which also handled the sale of the premises in 2017, achieving a price in excess of €1.3m.
While the new deal has been agreed, Mr Behan declined to comment on the sum involved, as it is still at contract stage. He confirmed that the interested party is a well-established food and beverage operator.
The Carey’s Lane premises, which occupies the rear section of the former Pavilion Cinema building, measures 608 sq m (6542 sq ft) and is spread over three floors.
It consists of an open-plan, ground-floor restaurant which has been fully refurbished, with a folding door/window directly onto Carey's Lane, as well as a commercial kitchen.
The first floor has long operated as a nightclub and music venue and includes a stage area, dance floor, and bar.
A striking feature of the nightclub was the vaulted ceiling which dates back to the opening of the cinema in 1921. Its ornate plaster mouldings have been retained, despite the passage of a century. The second floor consists of a smoking facility, stores, and office.
When the cinema opened, it created quite a stir, with its plush 900-seat auditorium and fashionable restaurant. It was the first in Cork to be equipped with technology for the new 'talking' films.
After it closed in 1989, music store HMV moved into the front section of the premises on St Patrick St until 2013, followed by current occupants Golden Discs.
In 2017, the reported that this retail section of the building had been sold to an investment fund for a sum in the region of €4m.