Cork bar The Sextant to close this month

Popular Cork city bar The Sextant is to close its doors next week, bringing to close decades of hospitality on Albert Street.

Current licensee Hazel Hutchinson said the news came as a tremendous shock to her loyal customer base.

“It is going to be a very strange time for the area, some of our regulars are coming here for 40 years plus, so it is going to be strange,” she told the Echo. “A lot of my regulars are really impacted by it.

“One of our regulars had his christening party here way back when and in the last couple of years I’ve had two people come in who were born upstairs in the old flats.

“It is affecting a lot of people because it is a really homely bar, we have really big local custom base who have been coming for such a long time.” The decision was not made by Ms Hutchinson, who has worked in the bar for close to a decade and held the lease for the last two years. She was given notice to quit by her landlord and understands that the property has been sold for redevelopment.

A number of major office developments have sprung up in the area, including Navigation Square and One Albert Quay. “We always knew it was coming down the line, it is a prime location for redevelopment but I wasn’t expecting it so soon, I thought we would have another year out of it,” she said.

The closure will take place on February 16 and will impact the 18 staff working in the business, between the kitchen and bar. However, Ms Hutchinson says plans for a new business are at an advanced stage.

“We think that we have found a new city centre location and we hope to relocate and open a business along the same lines,” she said. “It will be the same product and have the same atmosphere which is what it is all about. We believe our customers will follow us.”