Pints to patients: Pub to be new medical centre in Limerick village
Planning permission granted for change of use of bar and restaurant to medical centre
A CLOSED County Limerick pub is set to get a new lease of life as a medical centre.
Centric Health Primary Care Limited has been granted planning permission by Limerick City and County Council for a change of use of the current Cú Chulainn bar and restaurant on the Main Street of Patrickswell to use as a medical centre.
Permission was also sought for a rear upper floor extension to provide for a passenger lift installation, all necessary internal and external alterations, all associated signage, re-use of existing off-street car parking and all associated site development works.
Affectionately known locally as the “Cú”, the pub has been a mainstay on the edge of Patrickswell for decades.
In reaching its decision, the council wrote in planning files that the proposed development would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
In January of 2020 - just a couple of months before Covid closed down every bar in the country - the Murphy family called time on their stewardship of one of Patrickwell’s landmark pubs after 50 years at the helm.
The family were overwhelmed by the messages, calls and gifts from people who had worked in the bar over the years, from customers and from the people who had met their partners in the place.
The Leader reported in January, 2022, that the Cú Chulainn had gone sale agreed. It later reopened as a bar and restaurant after major refurbishment. It closed again in autumn / winter of last year with Rooney Auctioneers listing it on the rental market in January, 2026.
Now it is set to be a medical centre.
Since its foundation in Dublin in 2004, Centric Health has expanded its network of GP clinics throughout Ireland with 76 in total by 2023.
Separately, Centric Health Primary Care Limited has applied for planning retention at Acorn House, Graney Close, Sluggary & Dooradoyle for the change of use from existing physiotherapy clinic use to current medical centre use.
The decision due date is October 10.