Leisured memories...

Sentimental Leesiders are scrambling to get in one last game of pool or a last round of bowling before one of the city’s most iconic businesses shuts its doors.

It was confirmed this week that the Leisureplex entertainment complex at the corner of MacCurtain St and Brian Boru St has been purchased by UK hotel business Whitbread PLC with pans to build a 168 bedroom Premier Inn on the iconic site.

Since opening in the 1980s, the Leisureplex has been a popular venue for kids’ birthday parties, as well as a beloved hangout spot for teenagers, with a jungle gym, Quasar, pool tables, a games arcade, and bowling.

The site was the location of the former Coliseum Cinema which opened in 1913 and the Postal Sorting Office built in 1940.

These were both later gutted and combined to form the Leisureplex in the 1980s.

There is still time to bid farewell to the complex as it will remain open for business as Whitbread PLC works up its plans and brings forward a planning application for the development.

Matt Gent, Development Manager for Whitbread in Ireland, said: “Cork is a hugely successful city with thriving business, education, research, and visitor economies.

“Paradoxically, it is also under-served by the type of affordable, flexible, and family-friendly hotel accommodation that Premier Inn provides so well.

“We recently opened a new Premier Inn at Morrison’s Quay to the south of Cork city and investing in a second location to the east of the city centre underlines our confidence in Cork as a visitor destination and secures another well-positioned hotel for our guests to enjoy in Ireland.”

Whitbread opened the doors to the first Premier Inn in Cork on 29 January.

The 187 bedroom riverfront hotel which was developed along with three own-door office buildings, created 40 new jobs with recruitment focused within Cork city.