Knocknacarra ‘brasserie’ bar gets go-ahead from planners

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The Planning Appeals Board has upheld a decision to give the go-ahead for the development of a new restaurant, bar and apartment development off the Clybaun roundabout in Knocknacarra.

Last summer, Galway City Council approved a planning application for the development on the three-quarter acre site of a derelict house opposite the Clybaun Hotel.

As well as the restaurant and bar – which will be similar in styling to the Brasserie on the Corner on Eglinton Street – there will be two local shops, six apartments and 72 parking spaces.

That permission was subsequently appealed by the Hawthorn Place Residents’ Association, the estate which backs onto the site.

The residents’ group argued that the design and scale of the proposal was out of character with the area, excessive and would be detrimental to adjoining residential amenities.

They added that there would be a proliferation of licensed premises in the area, in close proximity to residential development.

In response, the applicant, Highcross Developments Ltd – operated by publican John Mannion of the nearby Tom Sheridan’s Bar and Restaurant – said it was in their interest to ensure that parking is available for customers on-site.

An Bord Pleanála’s inspector, Colin White said the building is a part three, part four and part five-storey structure at the junction of the Western Distributor Road, and there was scope for a structure of this scale there.

He added that the development would not be out of character or out of keeping in an urban area and that it “would be unlikely to generate any significant level of noise or disturbance that would be detrimental to the amenities of adjoining residential properties.

Mr White said the bar would be ancillary to restaurant use and therefore, would not constitute a proliferation of licensed premises in the area.
(Photo: A computer-generated image of the restaurant and bar opposite the Clybaun Hotel).
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