{"id":667237,"date":"2026-10-27T22:50:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T22:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/667237\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T22:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T22:50:29","slug":"cork-city-traders-fear-rates-rise-will-see-more-businesses-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/667237\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork city traders fear rates rise will see more businesses closing"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Cork city businesses prepared for a bumper weekend for the Guinness Jazz Festival, many owners were concerned about a potential 7% increase in commercial rates<\/a> currently being considered by Cork city councillors.<\/p>\n

The owner of KOTO Asian Kitchen & Bar on Carey\u2019s Lane, Jeff Safar, said that rising costs were \u201cdefinitely a pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupermarket and electricity bills, everything is on the up and nothing is going down. That\u2019s reflected in prices of our suppliers, and our customers have less disposable income,\u201d said Mr Safar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a small, family run business and every euro generated here stays in Cork.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that when the Vat for food businesses went down, \u201cthat was a big help\u201d, and it helped them to absorb the 5% council rates increase last year.<\/p>\n

\"JeffJeff Safar, owner of KOTO Asian Kitchen & Bar, said rising costs are ‘definitely a pressure’. Pictures: Larry Cummins.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut another 7% is a lot on top of that, especially when the city needs a bit of love – you can\u2019t keep putting the price of a dish up.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Pro Musica owner Eileen Madden said: \u201cThis was my 46th Jazz Festival, I\u2019m here since 1980, and year on year, especially since covid, the footfall in the city has fallen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of costs, she said. \u201cEverything is going through the ceiling, and it\u2019s hard just to maintain the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Madden said council should be incentivising people to shop in town.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially because you walk around the city and it\u2019s all vape shops, nail shops and coffee shops.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she fears an increase in commercial rates \u201cwill cause more places to go out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SheenaSheena McCarthy, owner of Sheena\u2019s Boutique, said: \u2018If cost increases continue people will be forced out of business.\u2019<\/p>\n

Sheena McCarthy, of Sheena\u2019s Boutique, said her business has been trading for more than 50 years, including 35 in Cork city, and said that a rise in rates would be difficult.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s not in isolation, we\u2019ve seen massive increases in costs with sick pay, PRSI, shipping, fabrics, electricity \u2013 it\u2019s all gone up. Smaller businesses like us are finding it difficult, we work really hard and have to absorb a lot.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cCork city is a beautiful city, but we need more small businesses, and if cost increases continue people will be forced out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms McCarthy said that while the jazz weekend is a big boost for them, \u201cthat\u2019s one weekend\u201d, and that they would welcome the opportunity to work with the council on more initiatives, like more parking or an improved Christmas market.<\/p>\n

Timing not good<\/p>\n

Thee owner of the Greenwich caf\u00e9 on Caroline St, Dermot O\u2019Sullivan, said: \u201cMinimum wage going up has a knock on effect on the price of ingredients.<\/p>\n

\"DermotDermot O\u2019Sullivan, owner of the Greenwich Cafe, said: \u2018It would be unwise at the moment to put the rates up\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cLike every other business, we are trying to absorb costs and meet those challenges. It would be unwise at the moment to put the rates up – I don\u2019t think the timing is good right now.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

However, he added: \u201cIf the council decide to increase rates, we need to look at where that\u2019s going to go, how it\u2019s going to improve the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a more positive note, Mr O\u2019Sullivan said that the city council was doing great work in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cSales are up because people are coming into the city, and simple things like the new benches on Patrick St makes the city more inviting and invites new retailers too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Cork city businesses prepared for a bumper weekend for the Guinness Jazz Festival, many owners were concerned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,4257,79,6037,113,61,60],"class_list":["post-667237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-cork-business","tag-cork-news","tag-cork-city-council","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}