Mallow grinds to a halt after fifth blaze at former hotel
CLLR IN CALL FOR ‘EYESORE’ FORMER CENTRAL HOTEL TO BE DEMOLISHED
A Cork county councillor has called for the demolition of what’s left of the Central Hotel in Mallow after fire ripped through the derelict building last Saturday afternoon.
This brings to five the number of fires that have happened at the landmark town centre building since its doors closed for business in 2007.
In August 2011 a second fire at the abandoned hotel in the space of six-months caused extensive damage to the premises, prompting the then Mallow
Town Council to again warn it’s owner the building would be listed as a derelict building unless it was repaired.
At a court sitting in October 2012 the then owners, listed as Stratfield Ltd, Frank Mulcahy, Formenton Ltd and Mulcahy Enterprises, were hit with a fine of €91,033.07 plus legal costs under the Dangerous Structures provision of the 1964 bill. This total also included recouping cost of the remedial work undertaken by Mallow Town Council. It is understood the monies remain outstanding.
In June of 2016 two separate fires at the dilapidated building within the space of three hours caused even more internal damage to the building.
The following month the building once again came under the spotlight after it emerged a Dublin-based property developer had purchased it for a sum believed to be in the region of €300,000. A subsequent application for a major plan of works there, lodged in the name of Mallow Capital Ltd, was shot down by county council planners.
Fast forward to 2018 and the company lodged a second planning application for the site, which was finally granted conditional approval after a number of further information requests last may. However, the site has lain idle since.
Emergency services were alerted to the latest blaze at the building at around 4.30pm last Saturday with fire brigade units from Mallow and Kanturk, a hydraulic lift from Cork City and a water tanker from Midleton from tasked to the scene.
Mallow station officer Jonathan Madden said the blaze, which was concentrated to the rear of the premises by the adjacent lane, was brought under control within a couple of hours but not before causing extensive damage to the interior and roof of the building.
Mr Madden said it was not possible at this early stage to say what caused the fire.
“That is something that will be investigated by gardaí and the relevant authorities over the coming weeks,” he said.
A spokesperson for Cork County Council said their officials would undertake a detailed inspection of the site to evaluate the damage caused by the fire.
“The outcome of that will determine what future action needs to be taken. At this stage it is far too early to say what that might be,” they added.
However, local Labour county councillor James Kennedy was in no doubt about what needs to be done to the building.
“At this stage it is a blot on the landscape that has become a known spot for anti-social behaviour, despite the best efforts of the gardaí. The best thing that can happen now is that Cork County Council buy the building, tear it down and replace it with a market type square or business centre,” said Cllr Kennedy.
“This saga has been allowed to drag on for far too long. ” he added.