Cork’s iconic Cotton Ball Bar and Brewery selling for €950,000

A Cork city bar and brewery has been put up for sale for nearly €1m after more than 150 years of trading.

The Cotton Ball Bar and Brewery in Mayfield was established in 1874, and has been in the Lynch family ever since, spanning four generations.

The sale of the premises, with a price of €950,000, comes because its owners are retiring from licensed trade.

Included in the sale is the traditional Cotton Ball bar, which was partially renovated in 2019, and on-site brewery, consisting of a 12-barrel brew house, six 2,000-litre conical cyclo-cylindrical conditioning tanks, and two 2,000-litre bright beer tanks.

The property, being sold by agents Sherry Fitzgerald, sits on 0.5 acres and is contained in an end-of-terrace part-single, part-two-storey building.

Site 

The site extends to approximately 1,197 sq m, and has frontage of 18m on to Old Youghal Road and 68m along the Kerry Road.

The ground floor of the Cotton Ball bar is laid out with two main bar areas, store rooms, a commercial kitchen, offices, a spacious entertainment area, and toilet facilities.

There is also a large, raised smoking area off the main bar, and an office/store space at first floor level.

The basement/lower ground floor of the property consists of keg stores, a spirit store, a cold store, and a hoist area serving the bar above.

Outside, there is off-street parking to the front of the property, and a large concrete surface car park to the rear, with capacity for up to 30 vehicles.

Notable commercial occupiers within the vicinity include Aldi, located in the Mayfield Business Park to the east of the property, along with Dunnes Stores and Lidl, situated to the north.

Zoned

The property is located in the area zoned ZO 01, ‘Sustainable Residential Neighbourhoods’, which is defined as ‘to protect and provide for residential uses and amenities, local services and community, institutional, education and civic uses’.

The current zoning presents an opportunity for potential buyers to redevelop the site to accommodate alternative uses, the estate agents say.