Green light given for construction of new café in popular Laois retail park

Laois County Council has granted permission on a conditional basis for the construction of a new café/restaurant in Barrow Valley Retail Park in Graiguecullen.

Kilbarron ICAV submitted the application on behalf of Kilbarron Fund 1 in August of last year for the development of the standalone unit in the carpark of the retail park. 

The café, with a gross floor area of 102 square metres, will be located in the central section of the carpark and its main entrance will face Dunnes Stores. As part of the proposal, the development will include an outdoor seating area for customers and the provision of a pedestrian crossing. 

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To facilitate the construction, 39 existing carparking spaces will be removed. One new space will be added once it is completed and so in total 38 spaces will be removed and eight bicycle spaces will be created. Further alterations to the carpark will also be made to account for landscaping and any other associated site works. 

A bigger café was originally proposed which would have measured twice the size, however the significant loss of more carpark spaces eventually led to it being scaled down. 

It is predicted that the new business premises will provide employment for up to ten people, with availability for five part-time and five full-time staff. 

The trading hours of the café will also operate in accordance with other businesses in the retail park, opening from 8am to 8pm from Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm on Saturday, and 10am to 6pm on Sunday. 

With the likes of Dunnes Stores, ToGo, The Dome, Mr Price and other retail units attracting a large number of people to the retail park already, this new venture will be sure to see numbers increase even further.