The Odeon Bar on Dublin’s Harcourt Street. Photo: Dave Meehan
One of Dublin’s best known café-bars, the Odeon on Harcourt Street, has hit the market with a price tag of €6.5m. The former railway station was converted into a distinctive licensed premises in 1998 and has successfully operated a food and beverage model since.
It is being offered for sale as a going concern through hospitality property specialists Lisney with a price guide in excess €6.5m.
The business and property are being sold on the instruction of owner Paul Keaveny, who launched the venue more than two and a half decades ago.
The former Harcourt Street Railway Station building was built in 1857 as the terminus for the Dublin to Bray line, which operated up to 1958. The building was sold and used as offices until 1997 when Paul Keaveny acquired the property and redeveloped it.
Much of the old Dublin-Bray railway has also since been re-purposed as the Luas Green Line, which now passes in front of the old station.
The high-end property incorporates many elements of the former railway station building and period features into the design of what is now a licensed premise complex spanning two main levels, with a main bar and three smaller area at ground-floor and another large first-floor bar. The venue has a capacity for 850 guests across multiple bars and is popular for corporate events and parties drawing business from the surrounding offices as well as passing local and tourist trade.
Rory Browne of Lisney says the sale presents “an unrivalled opportunity to acquire one of Dublin’s most iconic and instantly recognisable licensed premises”. The venue is an established high volume and profitable business within a premium trading district that continues to strengthen year on year, he said.
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