Overnight stays will be available at restored €5.6 million building in Tipperary

Ambitious multi-million euro plans for the former Parkes Chemist in Gladstone Street, Clonmel include the restoration and conversion of the ground floor into a museum, while short-term self-catering accommodation will be available on the upper floors.

The €5.6 million redevelopment of the building is included in the €13.1 million of government funding announced recently for Clonmel, which includes €7.5 million for the Clonmel town centre public realm regeneration scheme.

Addressing a meeting of Clonmel Borough District, Richard Power, Executive Engineer with Tipperary County Council, said that Parkes Chemist was being developed in conjunction with the Irish Landmark Trust, an all-island charity working to save, share and sustain the country’s unique built heritage.

The Irish Landmark Trust also provides self-catering holidays in its restored heritage buildings including the Galley Head Lightkeeper’s House near Clonakilty in West Cork, the Loop Head Lightkeeper’s House in Clare and the Head Gardener’s House in Fota, Co. Cork.

Street scaping will also feature in the Parkes restoration project.

Meanwhile, the public realm enhancements, funding for which is also included in the Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund, will cover O’Connell Street, Mitchel Street, the north end of Abbey Street and the southern end of Mary Street.

Mr. Power said that O’Connell Street will have a one-way traffic system from its junction with Mary Street to the Main Guard. Parking will be realigned and all services placed underground. Public lighting and street furniture will be upgraded while safer crossing points on the road will be provided.

District Mayor Siobhán Ambrose described the funding announcement as fantastic, and said it would be transformative for the town.

For many years people were asking what was happening, and it was great that the announcement had been made and tender documents were being prepared. While a timeframe couldn’t be placed on the completion date, she said there would be no delay in the delivery of the scheme.

Cllr Tom Acheson said the funding announcement wasn't a magic wand but was another big link in the chain to rebuild Clonmel. Hopefully it would encourage the owners of vacant properties to start redeveloping them. He said they needed to work harder to get those owners to “get off their butts” and do something with those properties.

Cllr John FitzGerald said they were all thrilled with the announcement. He acknowledged the contribution of the town’s business people, who had paid their rates to help the county council to provide match funding and help make this happen.

Cllr Richie Molloy said the town centre was the one topic that kept coming up on the canvas for the last elections, and it was fantastic that this announcement had been made.

Cllr Pat English also welcomed the funding announcement and said it was long overdue.