Having sold for more than €1.7 million in 2021 to Paddy McKillen jnr’s Press Up Group, the Star Bar, or Larry Murphy’s as it was then known, is back on the market at a guide price of €1.95 million.
The sale is being handled by joint agents Colliers and John P Younge on behalf of receiver Interpath Advisory, with the Baggot Street property being disposed of by public auction at 3pm on Thursday, March 5th, at Buswells Hotel on Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.
Located at 43/44 Baggot Street Lower, the subject property comprises a pub at ground and basement level with office accommodation on its upper three floors. The building is freehold and a protected structure and extends to 463.84sq m (4,992.7sq ft) in total.
The pub premises, which is being sold with the benefit of vacant possession, briefly comprises a front bar, seating areas and a fully equipped kitchen. The first and second floors of the building comprise office suites with independent access from both Baggot Street Lower and Fitzwilliam Street Lower. The third‑floor offices are let to Abdef Limited trading as Phoenix Magazine, on a 35‑year lease from July 1st, 2001, at a current passing rent of €11,874.40 annually, providing immediate and secure income.
The property is adjacent to Miesian Plaza, which is the headquarters of the Department of Health, and the new ESB headquarters on Fitzwilliam Street Lower, along with Slack’s headquarters, and close to the respective European headquarters of Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Stripe.
Commenting on the sale, Gillian Earley of Colliers said: “Opportunities of this calibre on Baggot Street Lower are exceptionally rare. The Star Bar combines a proven licensed premises with secure office income in one of Dublin’s strongest commercial and hospitality locations.”
Elsewhere in Dublin city centre, Colliers and John P Younge have been retained by receivers Interpath Advisory as joint agents on the sale of another former Press Up venue, the Vintage Cocktail Club in Crown Alley, Temple Bar.
The Vintage Cocktail Club, Crown Alley, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Guiding at a price of €2 million, the property, a three-storey over-basement building of 252sq m (2,712sq ft), comprises bar and lounge areas, a fully equipped commercial kitchen and a covered terrace, and is let at a rent of €225,000 a year to The Workman’s Club Ltd under a 20-year full repairing and insuring (FRI) lease from June 2012.
A former company within the Press Up group, the Workman’s Club Ltd now forms part of Eclective, the group established in 2024 on foot of the debt-for-equity takeover of McKillen jnr’s hospitality empire by London-based finance firm Cheyne Capital.