Kino to close for good

By Ellen O'Regan

The much-loved Kino on Washington Street will not be re-opening its doors, according to promoters The Good Room, who took over the lease in September 2019.

An arrangement had been reached to stay through the summer until the building is set to be sold, but the extension of Level 5 restrictions made it unfeasible to continue paying substantial rent in the hopes of opening for only a few weeks. The Good Room expressed gratitude for the support and understanding of their landlord, Philip O’Connor, but the challenges of Covid-19 were too much.

“We were only six months into what was a five-year plan when Covid came along and we were forced to close last March,” said The Good Room founders said.

“We never got a chance to fully realise our vision for the Kino. Had Covid not come along we would be in a completely different situation,” they added.

In the eight months that the venue was open, it hosted both Irish and international acts, and was building a name for itself. The Good Room also run the live at St Luke’s concert series, and they are currently exploring other options in the city to bring a new venue to Cork before the end of the year.

“The live performance industry as a whole is in tatters. Supports like the Live Performance Support Scheme are the only thing keeping some of these businesses alive and these need to be continued and added to for 2021 and 2022 or there will be a lot more bad news like this coming,” warned the promoters.

However, they remain hopeful for the future: “As soon as we can get back to live events, we have some incredible stuff lined up. We’ll be hitting the ground running and know that we will only go from strength to strength once things open up again.”