West Cork supermarket site eyed up once more by Tesco after a 20 year wait

Tesco operate over 175 Irish stores and last year announced plans to add eight more.

At present, Tesco’s presence in Cork comprises ten outlets, a mix of supermarkets, Tesco Express stores and superstores, but has nothing further west in the country’s largest county,  west of its existing superstores in Ballincollig and Wilton.

Tesco had bought a 6.4 acre site on Clonakilty’s N71 bypass road back in 2006, but it has lain undeveloped since the 2007/2008 downturn. Tesco was refused planning permission for a store in Bantry back in 2009.

Now, plans are afoot to develop portion of this strategic Clonakilty site for a Tesco store plus an as yet undetermined second commercial use occupier, as the retailer offers 2.4 acres to the market.

Tesco already has online shopping deliveries in the wider Clonakilty area, and it’s expected that online deliveries for a considerably larger West Cork catchment will form a major part of whatever store presence it hopes to secure in Clonakilty.

One of the country’s top tourist towns and with an urban population of over 5,000, Clonakilty is currently served by a mix of local and national retailers.

It has one of the country’s top SuperValus, Scally, with multi-storey car park on the Cork side of the town; it has a compact Dunnes with supermarket and homewares on the western fringes; there's a Lidl and an Aldi by the pivotal Waterfront development/Inchydoney Road, as well as a Centra, a Londis and a Eurospar in the town centre.

Meanwhile, the modern Maxol service station and deli paid €2m for an adjacent ex-garage site of just 0.6 of an acre in 2022 - after very competitive bidding - and Maxol  is expected to add to its food offer on their overall, combined site by Dunnes and the Clonakilty Food Company factory and Clonakilty Black Pudding visitor attraction.

The large, triangular Tesco site on the Clonakilty bypass is near those two latter major occupiers; it faces the new fire station, adjoins the showgrounds and is near retail-park type users, the recycling centre and ongoing new house developments.

“Tesco are looking to the long term and continued growth in Clonakilty,” says estate agent Ray O’Neill of Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill acting jointly with Cushman & Wakefield’s Cork surveyor Philip Horgan in the proposed sale of 2.4 acres of Tesco’s overall 6.37 acre acquired in ’06.

They say the offered site ” will form part of a larger Tesco owned site to be developed, and invite proposals “for an excellent development opportunity situated on the western outskirts of Clonakilty.” 

It’s just one km from the town centre, they note and says it has strong commercial profile and substantial frontage to the bypass/Park Road/N71 Clonakilty / Skibbereen route Zoning is for Mixed Use Development including retail (primarily convenience retailing), enterprise and technology uses, with good access: “the site will be sold subject to planning. The planning application will be included as part of a master planning permission for the entire 6.37 acres,” says Cushman & Wakefield and Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill.

No price guide is indicated: “We are looking for proposals from parties on their use/plans for the land, and although pricing will form part of decision-making process it will not be the sole factor,” said C&W’s Philip Horgan.

“As Clonakilty continues to expand there are also new residential estates under construction in this area and much of the surrounding lands are zoned for additional residential development,” he observes, adding “there has been very limited commercial development on the town since the financial collapse in the late noughties apart from the former GAA grounds and this is certainly one of best sites to come to the market in recent years.”

Details: Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill 023-8833995, C&W 021-4275454