Lots of local groups would love to put them to use, says Helen Lahart of Howth Tidy Towns. “We have no theatre, no cinema, no arts centre,” she says.
The north end of Harbour Road in Howth offers pubs, takeaways and an artisanal market. The south end has a pancake house and cafes with bubble teas and coffee.
The selling points of the road’s midpoint are “for sale” and “to let” signs.
Three properties, side by side, sit vacant, between a Beshoff Bros takeaway and the St Lawrence Quay gated apartment complex.
Idiosyncratically numbered 15, 15b and 53 Harbour Road, they include the empty Waterside-Fishermans pub and a former Paddy Power bookies. Above the pub is the closed Upper Deck Restaurant.
Between the bookies and the pub is a stony four-storey building, once an Italian restaurant and a convenience store.
A “for sale/to let” sign for the former restaurant’s ground floor and first floor has been fixed to the building since at least 2018, according to images from Google Street View.
The sign has been up for so long that Social Democrats Councillor Joan Hopkins says she began to wonder if the agent listed on the sign was still in business. “I don’t know why they’re not getting offers.”
While a prominent tourist destination, Howth has had an issue for years with vacant and derelict buildings, says Hopkins. “And the real ones causing a problem are the ones on the Harbour Road.”
The ground floor of 53 Harbour Road once hosted a Mace convenience store.
But images from Google Street View show it was vacant as far back as 2009 with the doors and windows covered in old posters.
The upstairs had a pizzeria, known as Porto Fino’s Ristorante. Street View images show that this was closed by 2017.
It comprises 315 square metres across the ground and first floors, according to the commercial property agent Agar, which has advertised it since 2018 but doesn’t list a price. (The top two floors aren’t included and their windows were open on a recent walk-by, suggesting they are occupied.)
Agar did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the owners as to who much they are asking to sell or rent it, why the property is not being used, and whether they would consider selling it to Fingal County Council.
Property Registration Authority records list the owner as Harbour/Church Street Management Ltd.
That company’s most recent annual return shows its owners as Noel Loftus and Lota View Holdings. Lota View has several owners, according to its most recent annual return, but a company called Kamcon Investments holds by far the most shares.
Hopkins says that a priority for the town is a community centre – something local groups have flagged as being largely absent from the peninsula. “It’s very much devoid of cultural spaces.”
What she wants to see is, if an owner couldn’t sell such a property for valid commercial reasons, that the council would purchase it, she says. “The council has a significant fund from the central government for this.”
Next door in number 15, the Waterside Bar is listed on Google as permanently closed, with its social media page inactive since April 2022.
It was purchased by the mixed-martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, The Currency reported in June 2022. But the property has been dormant since.
McGregor’s PR team did not respond to an email query asking when the establishment might be reopened.
Number 15b, formerly a Paddy Power betting shop, was active in 2021, Google Street View images show.
It had closed by late June 2022, based on photos posted by Conor McGregor to his Instagram announcing the purchase of the Waterside.
Today, the bookies’ distinctive green signage is gone, leaving only a bare green board over the entrance, and a “to let” sign, advertising Bohan-Hyland Associates as the estate agent.
According to the agent’s site, the ground floor is being let for €27,000.
A spokesperson for Bohan-Hyland said their involvement has concluded, with Frisby and Associates now acting as agents for the owners.
Frisby and Associates did not respond when contacted for comment on why the property is not in use, or if the owners would consider selling it to the council.
Helen Lahart of Howth Tidy Towns says there are a lot of groups who would love to see a property like 53 Harbour Road turned into something like an arts centre.
“We have no theatre, no cinema, no arts centre, and to see these buildings, particularly that one, would make a good performance or gallery space,” she said.
And there may be a way that Fingal County Council can help bring such buildings back into life.
During the Howth-Malahide Area Committee meeting on 1 November, Fingal County Council’s town regeneration officer, Declan Ryan, said the newly established Town Regeneration Office could offer a solution here.
Established as part of the government’s Town Centre First policy, in February 2022, it was set up to address issues like vacancy and dereliction.
Ryan said that Howth is in an urban regeneration development zone. “So from that perspective, it can access funding from the Urban Regeneration Development Fund [URDF].”
That fund, historically, deals with dereliction, vacancies and public realm improvements, Ryan said. “We have under the URDF round three call access to €7 million to buy these properties, to renovate them and bring them back into use, assuming that they are within the urban area.”
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