Budget hotel chain Premier Inn has lodged a planning application for a hotel in Cork city centre.
The application has been made by Premier Inn’s parent, Whitbread the UK hospitality industry conglomerate.
If approved, the development to the east of the city centre will be the company’s second Premier Inn hotel in Cork and completes its bedroom requirement for the city.
The planned new Premier Inn would see a redevelopment of the existing Leisureplex site on the corner of MacCurtain Street and Brian Boru Street and the building of a new 173 bedroom hotel.
Premier Inn’s existing Cork property is situated on Morrison Quay in the city centre.
Matt Gent, Development Manager for Whitbread in Ireland, said: “We opened a new Premier Inn at Morrisons Quay in Cork in January [2024] and quickly secured our second development opportunity to the east of the city centre a month after. The site we acquired, which is currently occupied by the Leisureplex entertainment complex, is a fantastic location for a hotel given its central location, public transport connections and many businesses and amenities located in the vicinity.
“Over the last ten months we have been working hard as a team to re-work and improve the extant planning permission to suit the Premier Inn brand. Our proposal will create a high-quality new hotel building with an ancillary licensed restaurant and public bar, that will provide an attractive addition to MacCurtain Street and the Victorian Quarter of the City Centre. I’m proud of the proposed development we have submitted for planning, and I am certain our second hotel in Cork will trade well and will make a positive long-term contribution to the city.”
Currently, Premier Inn – which entered the Irish market in 2018 – has six hotels across Dublin and Cork.
Earlier this year, it announced plans to grow further in those two cities, but also expand around the country in places like Killarney, Kinsale, Kilkenny, Sligo, Westport, Tralee, Galway, Limerick, Wexford and Waterford.
Its initial plan for a further 3,500 bedrooms here has risen to accommodate 5,000 new rooms. Financial figures from Whitbread, last week, showed Premier Inn more than doubled its revenues in Ireland in the first half of this year to £16.4m.
