Cork city's Electric bar sale sure to spark interest at €2.5m

Totalling over 557sq m (6,000sq ft) over three floors and overlooking the river, across the river from BAM’s long-idle hotel site and between long-awaited BAM’s Event Centre site and UCC’s new Business Campus on the Lee’s north channel, it was developed at an overall cost of €3.3m, including an auction purchase price at €1.65m in 2009 after it was sold off by ACC Bank.

Located at 41 South Mall, beside the Peace Park and a boardwalk facing Sullivan's Quay, the three-story building hosting Electric Bar & Restaurant is described as a “trophy premises” by agent Cearbhall Behan of Behan Irwin & Gosling.

It has capacity for 330 patrons at ground and first floor, had a top-floor Fish Bar (which later became a cocktail bar) added with a further investment of €500,000, and has seating for 150 more on a west-facing outdoor area/beer garden.

Owner/operator Ernest Cantillon entered the bar trade aged in his 20s after a B Comm in UCC, with the purchase of the Office Bar/Sober Lane, having cut his teeth in Cleavers, and later invested in other premises, including a nightclub at Voodoo, and also briefly ran Sober Lane bar in Dublin.

He subsequently branched into a distilling business partnership, Kinsale Spirits, making gins initially and later whiskey, in what is now a thriving enterprise.

“After 13 great years in Electric, I feel it’s the right time to reluctantly move on,” said Mr Cantillon, the father of three boys under the age of six years, this week, as his Electric ‘baby’ comes to the open market.

“Kinsale Spirit Company has become my focus, not to mention three boisterous young sons at home.

“The thought of the Event Centre is very exciting but, there are only so many hours in the day. I hope the new owners get as much enjoyment from Electric as I have.”

Coming on the back of a private, off-market deal on Cork city’s SoHo on Grand Parade for an unconfirmed €3m this spring (the bar is due to reopen in October), and the €26m purchase of the Imperial Hotel on the South Mall, good interest is forecast for the extremely well-known Electric.

BIG agent Cearbhall Behan described the sale offer as “a unique proposition”.

“I expect both strong local and national interest in this asset,” said Mr Behan.

“We have already seen larger chains seeking hospitality assets in Cork with the Louis Fitzgerald pub and hotel group purchasing the Imperial Hotel on the South Mall for c€26m — demonstrating the confidence in Cork from national buyers.

“The market for licensed premises remains strong, with limited supply of premises in the city centre currently.”

Fitted to a high standard, and including an internal lift, the original art deco-style premises at No 41 was built in 1930 by two brothers named O’Shea who had returned to Cork from Chicago after the 1929 Wall Street crash.

It was built in what was then an ‘experimental’ steel and concrete frame, and for a period also served as a Ford Motor dealership.

It later sold in 2009 to Ernest Cantillon, just after the Irish banking, economic, and property crash and, now, after a major rebirth and a successful trading history, it comes up for sale, guiding at €2.5m, on the back of a global pandemic.

DETAILS: Behan Irwin Gosling 021-270007