Crosshaven bar and restaurant is just what the doctor ordered

A CORK GP has expressed his delight after he purchased a popular Crosshaven bar and restaurant.

Dr Nick Flynn is the proud new owner of The Oar in Crosshaven, a village with which he has a strong bond and association, having trained there as a GP, and lived there for the past five years.

Speaking to The Echo, Dr Flynn said running a business is nothing new to him, and that he is excited for this new venture.

“I’ve been involved in business all my working life,” he said. “I became self-employed reasonably early in life, probably by the age of 28, so I’m familiar with the mechanisms of running a business.

“I have good business experience and while I don’t have a lot of hospitality experience, my main aim will be to agree on the product we want to create and then to assemble a team that wants to achieve that with me.

“It’ll then be up to me to ensure they have everything they need to achieve that, and that we can work together towards it.

“A great chef who can provide top quality food, a top bar and restaurant manager, and good support staff will all be crucial towards this.”

While he said he may not have a lot of hospitality experience, Dr Flynn revealed that working in the food and beverages industry is nothing new for his family.

“My mum and dad were successful butchers and grocers in County Waterford,” he said. “We lived over the shop so there’s always been that bit of retail and customer service element in my DNA.

“I’ve been interested in hospitality as a business model for a long time. When The Oar came up for sale in Crosshaven, a village that I love, I saw a great opportunity.”

Dr Flynn’s association with Crosshaven goes back two decades and he said he is keen to add to what he sees as a thriving Cork village.

“I trained as a GP in Crosshaven 20 years ago with Dr John Murphy and Dr Larry Martin,” he said.

“I have lived in Crosshaven for the past five years and the village is fabulous and buzzing.

“The opportunity presented itself and I love a challenge so that’s how I became involved in buying the pub and restaurant,” he added.

“If it was solely a pub, I might have been less interested because it’s that pub and restaurant element that I really want to get going.

“I can actually see The Oar from where I live in Crosshaven — it’s a good business area, 20 minutes from the city and well connected by bus and road.

“Crosshaven has a good reputation for food and drink, and we really want to add to that with a destination eatery on the Cork food map. JP English has established an excellent business in The Oar and we want to build on what he has achieved.”

As well as hoping to establish The Oar as a destination eatery, Dr Flynn said the bar element is a crucial one and one that he has already added to.

“We have acquired Ireland’s ‘rarest’ whiskey collection, which will be on display in The Oar,” the Cork GP revealed, with a slight play on words that might give away the star of the collection.

“It’s a complete collection of Midleton Rare bottles, 40 of them, dating back to 1983 — we’ll add a bottle every year,” he explained further.

As well as enticing local whiskey lovers, Dr Flynn said the collection has the potential to attract tourism from abroad.

“We hope it will help attract American tourists and we have already had interest from a Dublin-based American tour group company,” he added.

The Oar currently has six staff members but Dr Flynn said he is keen to build on that, providing more jobs in the local community.

“The number of staff will probably rise to 12 to 15 as we get our full food offering going,” he said. “We want fresh, local food ideally coming off the pier and only going the 50 yards or so into the kitchen. We also want local fruit and veg suppliers, a local meat supplier, and food that is very tasty, not overly complicated, priced correctly, and served in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere where people can have a good time, as well as good food.”

Looking to the future of his new business venture, Dr Flynn said he has high hopes for The Oar and the impact it can have in Crosshaven, as well as across the region and maybe even nationally.

“We want to develop a really high quality, gastro pub, and restaurant where people in the village come for a Sunday lunch or Saturday evening meal, where people from Douglas, Carrigaline, and further afield consider for their night out,” he stated.

“Eventually, we hope to develop into a gastro pub with a regional or even national reputation for really good food, really good service, and a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.”