Fair bowls: hospitality group acquires Cork's Viaduct Inn for up to €2m with lofty plans to upgrade

The location was seen as key by its purchasers Cliste, who operate 10 hotels spanning 1,158 bedrooms, 21 bars and restaurants, employ 1,200 and which has group turnover of €58 million.

The hospitality group proposes further upgrade investment and plans to run it primarily as a brasserie, and is not expected to add accommodation: “The Viaduct Inn is a significant hospitality footprint with lots of potential,” says Paul Fitzgerald, CEO of Cliste Hospitality, which formed out of hotels group iNua, and plans a spring 2022 reopening.

Mr Fitzgerald said they planned to develop it as a major food and drinks destination “on the gateway to West Cork”.

“It is Cliste Hospitality’s intention to operate the premises as a dining destination and food hall, rather than solely as a pub venue, although the drinks element remains an important pillar of the offering,” he added.

The Viaduct Inn is within sight of the 170-year old viaduct rail line, which ceased serving the West Cork and Kinsale rail routes in 1961, and in more recent years has been the focus of studies, reports, and hopes to reopen it as part of a Greenway walking and cycling route or, even, a reinstituted rail service given the drive for sustainable public transport routes.

It’s a much-admired ‘sleeping giant’ structure straddling the route to West Cork and a back road to Kinsale, and it’s easily reached off the N40 and Ballincollig/Kerry roads. Its potential has been untapped for some time, with licensed trade observers saying it has clear cope to be upgraded to the level of other successful reboots, such as the Elm Tree, at Glounthaune, and the Anglers Rest.

Its Chetwynd setting on the N71 has long been earmarked for development, even into the traditional green belt, with new motor dealerships opened two years ago, as well as a SuperMacs by O’Brien’s service station, along with major housing proposals, whilst a new city cemetery opened nearby at Maher’s Lane a decade ago.

Closer to the city, Dunnes is investing a multi-million euro sum in extending its large store at Bishopscourt/Bishopstown, and Dunnes is also due to rebuild its second traditional store by the Curraheen Road.

Terms of the off-market purchase of the Viaduct Inn by Cliste Hospitality are subject to a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA), said a spokesperson, who declined to comment on the price paid. However, other sources suggest it had been offered to other interest parties over a year ago at a c €2m sum.

Promising a complete redesign, with 30 seat cafe, restaurant seating 120, private dining space for 60 an outdoor BBQ and pergola area for a further 50, Cliste CEO Paul Fitzgerald says their gastro-pub/brasserie repositioning will embrace “a food and drink hall with menus changing seasonally that will become a destination dining option both for the local Bishopstown and wider Cork population and also for commuters to West Cork.”

Formed out of an MBO of hotel elements of the 2012-founded asset/hotel management firm iNua Partnership, Cliste was founded in 2019 by Paul Fitzgerald and Sean O’Driscoll. Their hotel portfolio includes a range of owned and managed hotels such as four Radisson hotels in Cork, Limerick, Sligo and Athlone, the five-star Muckross Park Hotel, and Kilkenny’s Hibernian Hotel.

It employs 30 staff, with offices in Cork and Dublin, and late last year appointed well-known hotel manager and current National President of the Irish Hospitality Institute, Brian Bowler as Cliste’s Regional Director of Operations: he was previously manager at the Montenotte Hotel (see p16), was a manager at the Brehon in Killarney, Carton House in Kildare, and was also involved in the Clarion Hotel group in the 2000s.

Details: www.clistehospitality.ie