Irish Permanent pay £270,000 for Schwers newsagents on West St
March 1981
THAT MAGIC £ quarter of a milliin million figure was reached and surpassed at an auction in Drogheda on Friday when the Irish Permanent Building Society paid £270,000 for Schwers newsagency. Schwers is located at The Tholsel, which all local business interests concede is the most valuable and choice location in Drogheda.
At the very hub of Drogheda, it is probably one of the most prime locations in any provincial town in the country.
The premises went under the hammer at a crowded auction room of Robt. B. Daly and Sons. Wielding the hammer was auctioneer, Mr. L. Flynn, who accepted an opening bid of £100,000 and then brought the property up by jumps of f 10,000 until it reached the quarter of a million mark. After that the bids came in £5,000 sums and then, at £260,000, took a final jump of £10,000 to £270,000.
The clinching bid for the Irish Permanent Building Society was made by their solicitors, Kevan and Co., Dublin.
The purchase of Schwers marks the end of a long hunt by the Irish Permanent Building Society to gain a headquarters on West Street. They were in at the final moments of the sale of the Allied Irish Bank in West Street, but were pipped by rivals, the First National.
Only recently they were negotiating for the purchase of Andersons of West Street. This, apparently, was overshadowed by the arrival on the market of the nearby Schwers. After the week-end sale, the development officer of the Irish Permanent Building Society, Mr. L. Brennan, professed himself absolutely thrilled with the purchase.
“It is the best site in Drogheda. We arc delighted to get it.” He emphasised that the building is, in fact, two shops. The company’s architects were at present studying the shops to see how best their space can be deployed. At present the company rents offices on the first floor of the former Royal Bank in Laurence Street. Manager there is Mr. Tom Hussey. When will the I.P. be moving to its new headquarters? “As rapidly as possible,” says Mr. Brennan. They will be hoping for a before Easter flit. Pleased with the size of their new purchase, the Irish Permanent is considering making the new Drogheda office the headquarters for the region
The vendor, Mrs. Stephanie Phillips, and her son, Stephen, have been conducting a highly successful newsagency business for a number of years. The premises has been in their family for generations.