Landmark Tullamore town centre pub is sold to 'local buyer'

ONE of Tullamore's landmark public houses has been sold to a local buyer, it was confirmed today.

The identity of the purchaser of the William Street Bar & Eatery (formerly the Wolf Trap pub and restaurant) in the town centre has not been disclosed but it is believed a figure close to the guide price of €600,000 was paid.

“I presume they'll open a pub and restaurant there,” said John Ryan of Bagnall Doyle MacMahon, who handled the sale.

The deal is the second major one in the local hospitality trade to be finalised in recent months.

In November, a partnership involving golfer Shane Lowry and Westmeath-born pub group owner Alan Clancy bought the Tullamore DEW building nearby on the Grand Canal.

“There was a good spurt of interest in [William Street Bar] when people heard that Lowry had gone in around the corner,” said Mr Ryan.

The buyer who recently closed the deal had expressed a firm interest in the William Street premises before the Tullamore DEW sale was confirmed and Mr Ryan said it was encouraging that a potential competitor coming on the scene had not deterred investors.

He said the opposite is the case, because towns like Tullamore need to be offering a range of drinking and dining options to customers.

“You need the cluster effect,” he said.

Previously known as Pat's Bar from the 1980s when it was run successfully by local businessman Pat Cunningham, it is a large premises, with two storeys over a basement in a prime location at the junction of William Street and Harbour Street.

It was not trading when Bagnall Doyle MacMahon offered it for sale on behalf of its operators at the time, a brewing company.

It had initially been run as a craft beer only pub by Leitrim-based brewers, Carrig Brewing, but they later switched to mainstream beers with a smaller craft offering, plus casual dining on the ground floor.

The property formerly had a restaurant on the first floor, capable of seating 60, and there is another bar to the rear backing onto Offaly Street, plus a large enclosed beer garden.

The overall floor area is nearly 11,000 sq ft and the pub was on the market since July last year.

“There was good interest in it all along,” said Mr Ryan.