Guide price of €6m for former Pod Nightclub

Music impresario John Reynolds has put the Old Harcourt Street Station licensed complex in central Dublin up for sale with a guide price of €6 million.

The building, better known as the Pod, is situated at the junction of Harcourt Street and Mount Street Lower in Dublin 2. It is being sold by tender and bids must be submitted by June 8th.

A Grade 1 listed building, the property measures about 2,625sq m (28,255sq ft) and is part single storey and two-storey with mezzanine areas.

It was formerly set out as three bars and late night venues: the Chocolate Bar, Crawdaddy and Tripod. These venues closed a number of years ago.

Planning permission

Morrissey’s, the selling agent, has suggested that the building’s size and strategic location offer numerous alternative commercial uses and re-development, subject to planning permission.

The agent saids the building presents a “unique and wonderful opportunity”.

Mr Reynolds, a nephew of former taoiseach Albert Reynolds, bought part of the Pod in 1993 and bought the rest of the building five years later. In 1998, he leased the premises to a company that he owned and controlled called Pod Entertainment Ltd. The buildingwas used for nightclubs and gigs for many years.

In a court case that concluded last year, relating to a dispute over a lease of the premises to another party, Mr Reynolds said he was caught up in the economic downturn in 2008. His business declined, revenue decreased and he had borrowings of about €10 million to AIB secured on the premises.

The bank appointed a receiver to Pod Entertainment Ltd, which owned the lease.

Some 39 licensed premises changed hands in Dublin last year for a combined €43.3 million. This compared with 46 transactions in 2014 with an aggregate value of €52.5 million.