After more than 40 years, the Forum in The Glen, Waterford has been sold.<\/p>\n
The sale was confirmed today, January 30th. changing hands from long-time owner Ciaran O’Neill to a Dublin-based businessperson.<\/p>\n
Mr O’Neill has not named the new buyer at this stage.<\/p>\n
The sale ensures the continued operation of its long running bingo nights.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the current tenants; No 21 Off-licence, Golden Meal Chinese Restaurant, House Of Beauty by Maria, The Walls Project (Waterford Walls) and Forum Film Studios, will all remain in place.<\/p>\n
Musical history of The Forum<\/p>\n
Originally purchased by Mr. O\u2019Neill\u2019s company in 1985, the building underwent five years of extensive renovations to transform the former Regal Cinema.<\/p>\n
Since its official opening in 1990\u2014featuring an inaugural concert by Waterford\u2019s own Val Doonican\u2014The Forum has served as a premier destination for world-class talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the venue hosted a staggering array of international icons.<\/p>\n
These included Johnny Cash (appearing with Kris Kristofferson), Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, The Corrs, David Gray, Scissor Sisters, The Beautiful South, The Proclaimers, Fun Lovin\u2019 Criminals, The Coronas, Paul Brady, Gilbert O\u2019Sullivan, and Imelda May. <\/p>\n
Renowned artist Christy Moore was a regular performer, and a 2010 appearance by Calvin Harris became “the talk of the town.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comedy Legends and Household Names<\/p>\n
The stage also welcomed comedy legends such as Billy Connolly, Tommy Tiernan, D\u2019Unbelievables and Mario Rosenstock.<\/p>\n
Brendan Grace, Jack Dee, Lenny Henry, Dermot Morgan and Des Bishop also performed.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Hollywood actor Woody Harrelson famously visited with Waterford-born magician Keith Barry. <\/p>\n
The venue was also a hub for local arts.<\/p>\n
Waterford Dramatic Society staged numerous shows there, as well as Red Kettle.<\/p>\n
Popular Late-Night Venue<\/p>\n
Beyond live performances, The Forum\u00a0operated\u00a0as a pioneering late-night venue, hosting the region’s first weekly gay club night, \u2018Flytrap.\u2019 <\/p>\n
Other successful\u00a0late night\u00a0clubs included \u2018Musiklab\u2019 and the popular Indie\u00a0clubs\u00a0\u2018Shakedown\u2019 and \u2018Traffik.\u2019 <\/p>\n
Spraoi held their Festival Club at the venue every August bank holiday weekend, alongside spectacular, capacity-crowd New Year\u2019s Eve celebrations. <\/p>\n
Dance nights with\u00a0DJ\u2019s\u00a0like Roger Sanchez, Dave Clarke & Green Velvet rocked the venue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Life Well Spent<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Forum has been my life\u2019s work for over 40 years,\u201d\u00a0stated\u00a0Ciaran O\u2019Neill. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was approached to sell, a priority was ensuring that bingo and our tenants would not be displaced. <\/p>\n
I am pleased to confirm that the sale includes an agreement that bingo will continue to\u00a0operate\u00a0here exactly as it does now, every Tuesday,\u00a0Thursday\u00a0and Sunday.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The transition of ownership of the premises coincides with Mr. O\u2019Neill\u2019s planned retirement later this year. <\/p>\n
Taking the helm of the bingo operations will be Forum Bingo Manager Linda Byrne, a highly respected figure among staff and patrons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted that Linda Byrne will be taking over the reins,\u201d continued Mr. O\u2019Neill. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe has been with the Forum for over 28 years now and knows our customers and this operation better than anyone. <\/p>\n
I will be working closely with Linda over the coming months to ensure a seamless handover for everyone involved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sale Details<\/p>\n
The sale price and the identity of the new owners have not been disclosed.<\/p>\n
However, Mr. O\u2019Neill confirmed the buyer is a Dublin-based businessperson who recognises the significant potential.<\/p>\n
Guy Palmer of Palmer Auctioneers, who handled the sale,\u00a0stated: \u201cPalmer Auctioneers were delighted to be involved in the sale of this historic and iconic landmark. <\/p>\n
We wish Ciaran well on his retirement after almost 50 years in the entertainment business in Waterford.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the latest Waterford\u00a0News<\/a><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/b>Spo<\/a>rt<\/a>,<\/a><\/b>\u00a0tune into WLR News on the hour and download the WLR App for news on demand.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After more than 40 years, the Forum in The Glen, Waterford has been sold. The sale was confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,152158],"class_list":["post-311479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-the-forum"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115983982438346146","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}