The shop has been vacant for years

05:00, 07 Apr 2026Updated 14:45, 07 Apr 2026

Number 19 Castle Street, Cork(Image: Cork Beo)

A well-known Cork pizza chain has submitted plans to transform one of the city centre’s most neglected streets. Oak Fire Pizza is hoping to open a new location on Castle Street.

The owners of the award-winning pizza restaurant have applied to Cork City Council for a new “sandwich bar” style restaurant at a former retail unit at Number 19 Castle Street. The unit has been vacant for years, previously a computer repair shop, and on a street which is well overdue some TLC.

There are a number of vacant units falling into serious dereliction on a street linking two of the city’s main thoroughfares: North Main Street and Grand Parade. And it’s the first planning application for the street since 2024. Oak Fire Pizza’s proposal for a new sandwich spot shows a glimmer of hope for the area, which, despite the empty shops, is home to loved and thriving businesses, including the Gloria Jeans café and the recently expanded Sonflour restaurant.

Castle Street is also home to THREE of the numerous Mannix clothing stores, a legacy Cork retail business which closed last year after almost a century in the city. The shops are now up for sale, with hopes of further regeneration under new owners. Other properties sitting empty for some time include the former Popsicle dessert shop, the former Stephen Gleeson Jewellers and the former Positively Vintage shop.

Castle Street – 3 big buildings – all former Mannix family clothestores – up for sale

In March 2025, the planning board rejected an appeal for a huge multi-property refurbishment project on the street, as the proposal would “seriously injure the vitality and viability” of Cork city centre. An Bord Pleanála (now An Coimisiún Pleanála) said a proposal to amalgamate a number of historic retail properties and convert them into a large betting shop with overhead apartments would have a “negative visual impact.”

Holren Properties Ltd had proposed a major project to transform Castle Street, Paradise Place and South Main Street, including the former Catholic Young Men’s Society hall. Its plans included an extended betting shop and the development of 6 new one-bedroom apartments, 1 studio apartment and 3 one-bedroom apartments on the upper floors.

The former Catholic Young Men’s Society hall above the shops on Castle Street is a Protected Structure which dates back to the 1870s. Also on Castle Street is the historic ‘Drummy’s’ property and three more former townhouses, built in the 1830s.