Allsop’s small beer reserve might entice bidders for Co Clare pub and B&B

Fancy an 11-bed hostelry and pub in a popular seaside town in Clare for just €45,000? Amounting to just €4,090 per bedroom that's the reserve price Allsop has placed on Neville's pub and B&B on Erin Street in Kilkee, Co Clare at its next online auction on Tuesday. The reserve includes an adjoining four-bedroom house.

Extending to 4,500sq ft the main building comprises a ground floor main bar, a lounge area, a cold store and kitchen, plus a nine-bedroom B&B. The bar section, known locally as Ketts, is more than 100 years old and is a protected structure. The attached lounge was built in the late 1970s and attracted a number of big bands in the 1970s and 1980s.

Neville’s was bought by developers more than 10 years ago – but since then nothing has happened. There’s bound to be plenty of local interest in the prominent site when it comes to auction as concern had been expressed about its demise in such a prominent town-centre location.

It will be interesting to see what the site goes for, and Allsop commercial director, Robert Hoban, has already poured cold water on the possibility of a buyer walking away with the bargain of the century: “It is worth noting that the reserve price and the actual sale price are two very different things. On average, properties sell for 20-40 per cent more than the reserve price.”

Well he would say that wouldn’t he.