Pub group JD Wetherspoon ramps up Irish growth with Galway acquisition
British pub group JD Wetherspoon has ramped up its Irish expansion with the purchase of its first site in Galway.
The group has exchanged contracts to acquire the Carbon Nightclub on Eglinton Street in Galway city centre. The transaction is expected to complete next month.
A spokesman for Wetherspoon said the company aims to invest €2.5m developing the site into a pub and will apply for planning permission and a variation to the licenced premises.
The new pub plans propose 4,000 sq ft of customer area and a 1,900 sq ft first floor beer garden.
The news comes a week after the opening of Wetherspoon's seventh pub in Ireland - the group investing €4m in its new Silver Penny pub on Lower Abbey Street in central Dublin.
That was Wetherspoon's first city centre pub in Dublin. Other than The Linen Weaver in Cork city, Wetherspoon's other Irish pubs are in Carlow and suburban Dublin spots at Swords, Dún Laoghaire, Blackrock and Blanchardstown.
The group has consistently said it has plans to continue growing in Ireland. It owns a site in Waterford city centre, which it is waiting to develop and is working towards an early 2020 opening of a €20m 'superpub'/89-bedroom hotel project on Dublin's Camden Street.
Full planning permission has been granted for the Waterford site, but the company has yet to decide on an on-site date.
By the time the Camden Street site - going under the name Keavan’s Port Hotel - opens, Wetherspoon will be directly employing around 1,100 people in Ireland.
Wetherspoon’s general manager for Ireland, Alistair Broome said: "We have enjoyed great success with our existing pubs in the Republic of Ireland and look forward to opening in Galway."
