Green light to turn former Cork city pub into apartments

A FORMER pub on Douglas St is set to be turned into apartments, following a grant of conditional planning permission by Cork City Council.

In August, Patricks Unity Ltd lodged a planning application with the council seeking permission to change the use of 18/19 Douglas St, formerly An Crúiscín Lán, to develop three apartments.

Number 19 Douglas St is a protected structure.

The application stated that the three apartments would be made up of two one-bedroom units and one two-bedroom unit.

It also sought permission for the construction of an open courtyard within the existing building’s footprint and a new access gate as part of the protected structure stone archway to the former St John’s Market.

The building is a three-storey property and the former pub had operated only on the ground floor.

There are existing apartments overhead but the proposed works in the planning application relate only to the ground floor.

Cork City Council has now granted permission to the development, subject to 12 conditions.

One condition stipulates that, prior to the commencement of development, drawings shall be submitted to the planning authority and the conservation officer for written agreement showing “a better quality design for the new gates within the historic gateway that more appropriately responds to and complements the character and appearance of the protected structure”.