Day the music died: Kino shuts up early

CORK has lost one of its popular live music venues with the announcement that the Kino is set to close its doors.

The venue was run by promoter duo Ed O’Leary and Joe Kelly of The Good Room, who made the decision to leave the venue on Washington Street due to Covid-19 restrictions and the future redevelopment of the premises.

They took over the lease of the building in September 2019. Last July, planning permission was granted for the demolition and replacement of the existing building with a new building to include a 17-bed student accommodation unit. The Good Room had originally planned to run the Kino until the end of the summer months but the promoters said that it would not be feasible to continue paying rent while the venue remained closed under current restrictions.

Speaking to The Echo, Joe Kelly said that they would have been “handing back the keys maybe in August anyway” and that under current restrictions it “just didn’t add up” to continue paying rent on the closed venue.

“When we weighed it up we would have been paying rent for five or six months to be open for two months. We probably weren’t going to be open until June at the earliest and our contract was up in August so it just didn’t add up to stay open for those two months,” he said.

He said, however, that “from all these things come opportunities” and that they have their eye “on one or two other things”. The promoters, who also run the Live At St Luke’s concert series, hope to bring concerts back to the northside venue in the autumn.