Innkeepers return to the Dublin pub market with deals worth €51.5m

A total of 23 pubs were sold in Dublin in 2022 for a transaction value of €51.5m, according to a report by broker Lisney Morrisseys.

The figures reflect a sharp decrease compared to 2021, when 30 transactions were made with a total value of 124 million euros.

However, Lisney’s Tony Morrissey says 2021 was exceptional due to transactions from private equity firms, particularly UK-based Attestor.

In contrast, public buyers re-emerged as the main buyers in 2022, as private equity buyers fell from 37 percent of deals in 2021 to just one Dublin deal in 2022.

Mr. Morrissey attributed the customs trades to “their confidence in the prospects for trade”.

Pub owners bought half of the pubs sold in 2022 and 37 per cent of the amount spent. That compares to 37 percent of deals and 15 percent of spend in 2021. Investors also increased their market share, which accounted for 39 of the deals, and their spend percentage rose from 5 percent to 36 percent in 2022.

Demand for good property in the city has remained strong, illustrated by the recent sale of O’Donoghue’s Suffolk Street to Paul Clinton and the sale to landlords of Nancy Hands Parkgate Street and The Flowing Tide in Middle Abbey Street.

He was also optimistic about the prospects for 2023 as 11 Dublin licensed premises remained for sale at the end of 2022 and more are due to open in the first quarter of 2023.

In the most valuable pub deal, private equity group Attestor added The Bleeding Horse to their stable on Camden Street.

David L’Estrange, who owns a number of pubs in partnership, sold this landmark for around €9.2million.

Paddy McKillen Jr. also expanded the purchase of Ashton’s, Clonskeagh as well as development game Lamb Doyle’s, Sandyford on a 3 acre site and the former Stone Leaf/Buck Whaley’s on Leeson Street to convert into his Grafter office business.

Meanwhile, the Mahon family, who own several New York pubs, bought JW Sweetmans near the O’Connell Bridge for over 5 million euros.

One of the investors was MMA fighter Conor McGregor who added The Waterside in Howth to his portfolio.

Meanwhile, the MSCI/SCSI Ireland Quarterly Property Index reports that the value of Irish investment property fell 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing the annual rate of decline to 6.2 percent.

The fourth quarter was the worst quarter for capital values ​​since September 2011.