Receiver slashes price for Crane Bar after failing to attract buyer

The asking price for a well-known ‘trad’ pub in the city has been slashed in half, after failing to find a buyer since going on the market two years ago.

The Crane Bar on Sea Road – which is on the market with a tenant in place – was first put on the market in January 2011, and agents expected to achieve a selling price of up to €950,000.

However, the asking price has now been slashed to €550,000 on the instructions of the receiver, Paul McCann of Grant Thornton.

Joint selling agents Philip Mullery of Mullery Auctioneers and John Hughes of CBRE said the premises has attracted interest from investors.

The pub is let on a 20 year lease from 2006 and the tenant is not affected by the sale.

The Crane was part of a parcel of properties seized by EBS Building Society in 2011 from former Fianna Fáil county councillor Josie Conneely, who blamed planning issues, the smoking ban, drink-driving laws and a drop-off in tourism for the collapse of his development business and the loss of his property portfolio.

Other properties seized included the Rock Glen Hotel, J Conneely’s Bar and nightclub and the D’Arcy Inn in Clifden, as well as the Renvyle Inn.

In 2011, the JC’s bar complex was offered for sale for €1.25m, and the price was dropped in May of last year to €750,000 or ‘best bids’. It subsequently failed to sell at an Allsop Space auction in Dublin last with, where it had a reserve price of €450,000.