Cork publican set to buy Wetherspoon’s bar in the city
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A Cork publican is set to add the former JD Wetherspoon bar and restaurant in the city centre, the Linen Weaver, to his expanding portfolio.
It's understood the €2m deal has been agreed but not yet concluded.
Property market reports link Cork businessman Tony Cross to the purchase of the Paul Street bar/restaurant, which went for sale as part of a €10m portfolio sell-off by UK licensed trade giant Wetherspoon.
Mr Cross currently owns The Anglers at Carrigrohane, and the Turner Cross Tavern in Cork’s southside suburbs and has invested considerably in both since buying them.
He and his wife Alice bought The Anglers (previously the Angler’s Rest, with a 200-year trading pedigree) in 2019. Prior to that they also upgraded the Turners Cross Tavern near the iconic, modernist Christ the King church. Both premises are known for food as well as drinks.
The couple had previously developed the Maxi Zoo chain of Irish pet stores, having built up a network from 2006 after opening their first store in Ballincollig. Maxi Zoo is still headquartered in Cork with over 30 Irish stores, in different ownership.
When contacted this week, Mr Cross declined to comment on reports of the purchase of the Linen Weaver.
It had gone for sale with a €2.25m guide, part of a disposal by JD Wetherspoon which also put on the market Waterford’s An Geata Arundel in Waterford City — it has been in new hands since July — along with Carlow’s Tullow Gate and Galway’s Carbon Night Club.
Joint agents CBRE and Savills had guided the four-strong portfolio at €10m, expecting them to be bought individually.
Staff at Cork’s Linen Weaver were told at the start of October it was set to close by Christmas, with the new owners likely to close it for several months before reopening with a new identity.
The 12,000sq ft historic bar at 6/7 Paul Street/Carey’s Lane was acquired by JD Wetherspoon in 2013 for over €1m: it had previously traded as the Newport Bar, and before that as Mangans bar and nightclub. Prior to that it was the House of Donegal, a bespoke tweed tailoring business.
JD Wetherspoon spent a further €2m-€3m on the Cork city centre/Huguenot Quarter property post-purchase, employing over 60, and had also eyed up a Douglas village property for conversion to a bar/restaurant but didn’t follow through. The chain is to concentrate on its Dublin premises, it’s understood.
Also, Cork city centre’s prime retail street, Opera Lane, is set to be fully occupied for the first time in five years as a deal has just been inked for a large unit to be taken over by outdoor clothing specialists Mountain Warehouse.
In advance of any opening in Cork of the giant sports company Decathlon, which has been scoping Munster sites, the more niche UK-based specialist retailer Mountain Warehouse is taking over the four-level Unit 14 at Opera Lane, vacated by TopShop over four years ago at the start of covid, and will retail out of 15,000 sq ft of the substantial 20,000 sq ft store.
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