Jazz festival is ‘brilliant for the city, it’s a great time to show off Cork’

CORK’S hospitality is set for a more than €45m boost from the upcoming Guinness Cork Jazz Festival - which is predicted to be the biggest and “best ever”.

An “absolute belter” of a bank holiday weekend is being predicted by hoteliers, bar-owners, restauranteurs and others in the hospitality sector.

The five day event gets underway on Thursday, October 26, but hotels and guest houses are already fully booked for the 45th edition of the event.

Cork Business Association president Kevin Herlihy said that huge crowds were being expected for what he said would be the biggest iteration since the festival was established at the end of the 1970s.

“Every hotel, B&B and restaurant is booked out for the weekend and though I’m not sure of the figures, we can say that it will be one of the biggest ever.

“It’s an absolute bumper weekend for retail, hotels, restaurants and pubs.

“It’s all hands to the pumps,” he said.

Mr Herlihy said the festival is a great boost to smaller venues around the city centre as they benefit from a vibrant street music scene during the five days of pop-up events, late night parties, boat trips, and brass bands marching through the city streets.

€45m benefit

Last year’s edition of the Guinness Cork City Jazz Festival broke all previous records with an unprecedented influx of more than 100,000 visitors to the city, generating around €45m in takings over the five days.

“We’re expecting the figure to be north of that,” said Mr Herlihy about this year’s festival.

World renowned musicians and singers such as Macy Gray, Corinne Bailey Rae, Morcheeba, Matthew Halsall, and Grammy award winner Kurt Elling head the line-up of performers at this year’s festival, which will also feature the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, rated as one of the world’s best brass bands, who will present a showcase of hip hop over the past 50 years.

Trigon Hotels managing director Aaron Mansworth is upbeat about what this year’s Guinness Cork Jazz Festival would bring to the city.

“It’s looking very positive and numbers are getting back to pre-covid levels, absolutely,” said Mr Mansworth. “There’s a great vibe around the place in advance of the Jazz.”

Noreen Gannon, co-proprietor of Gallagher’s gastro pub on the corner of MacCurtain Street, is also looking forward to the return of the festival which she says is “brilliant for the city”.

“We’re hopeful that the works on the street will be finished by then and that will make it a very nice festival altogether for us,” said Ms Gannon. “We’re hosting a few big bands ourselves as always.”

Last year for Electric

Ernest Cantillon, owner of Electric and Sober Lane, is looking forward to the Jazz though there will be a bittersweet tang to it as the extravaganza is likely to be the last for Electric which is currently on the market.

“Jazz festival has always been a magic weekend in Electric, where we have the luxury of an overflow into the park if the weather is good,” said Mr Cantillon. “People come for dinner, there’s music in the bar and that kind of stuff — it’s a great weekend, we’re always jointed.”

Mr Cantillon said Electric opened 13 years ago for the Jazz weekend.

“It’s a special one for us as it will likely be our last weekend in Electric with the ‘for sale’ sign up — I guess we won’t be there next year.”

He said the inclusion of both Electric and Sober Lane on the Jazz Trail brought with it a lot of revellers going from venue to venue to make the most of the music.

“People really do follow the Jazz Trail, especially visitors to the city. As great as we think Cork is, Cork people invariably go to Dublin for sporting occasions and concerts, but the Jazz weekend is one unique thing we really own and it’s a great time to show off Cork as the place is really hopping.”