{"id":623342,"date":"2026-08-06T10:12:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/623342\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T10:12:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:12:23","slug":"chinese-duo-buy-model-farm-pub-in-cork-for-e1-1m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/623342\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese duo buy Model Farm pub in Cork for \u20ac1.1m"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Model Farm Bar & Bistro<\/a> on Model Farm Rd has been sold for \u20ac1.1m to investors Sengfund, the same company behind the \u20ac5m-plus acquisition of the former Flying Enterprise complex in Cork city centre.<\/p>\n

Agents for Lisney confirmed the sale of the Model Farm Rd premises which has continued to trade since it was put up for sale by its then owners, the Burton family, in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contract has been executed and the sale is due to close in early September,\u201d Lisney agents said.<\/p>\n

Food focus<\/p>\n

As the buyers are the Chinese duo behind several food-focused hospitality enterprises including the Royal Palace Chinese Restaurant, located above The Hawthorn Bar<\/a> by the Lough, as well as two Princes St restaurants \u2014 The Pearl River and Nosh 19 \u2014 it\u2019s likely that food will play a central role at the Model Farm Rd pub.<\/p>\n

The duo \u2014 Aichen Chen and Lin Zhu \u2014 registered a trio of Sengfund companies in the past year according to the Companies Registration Office, where they are listed as directors and shareholders of all three.<\/p>\n

Principal activities are stated as \u2018buying and selling real estate\u2019 (Sengfund Investment Ltd) and \u2018restaurants and mobile food service activities\u2019 (Sengfund 1 and Sengfund 2 Ltd).<\/p>\n

The South Gate\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since buying the Flying Enterprise<\/a> complex last November, they\u2019ve renamed that pub The South Gate<\/a>, as it is adjacent to South Gate Bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The complex includes the Courtyard Bar, which is capable of holding parties of 700, a shop, Quay News, off-licence, and five overhead apartments.<\/p>\n

Hectic activity in Cork’s pub scene<\/p>\n

Separately, talks are advanced on the sale of Paddy the Farmers<\/a>, a high-profile pub with nine overhead apartments on the corner of Summer Hill North and the Old Blackrock Rd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An offer of \u20ac1.9m, accepted by the owners, fell through but Lisney said it was sale agreed again with a new purchaser, with hopes of concluding the deal by the end of September.<\/p>\n

Progress is also being made on the sale of Tequila Jacks<\/a>, a waterfront venue on Lapps Quay, which came to market with a guide price of \u20ac1.3m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Paddy the Farmers, an agreed sale fell through, but agents Lisney are back in talks with two other parties, one Dublin-based and one local, with hopes of completing a deal sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

Activity on the pub front<\/a> has been hectic in Cork City over the last 12 months, with a number of well-known venues changing hands and changing tack under new owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reidy’s Vault Bar<\/a> on Lancaster Quay is set to become a second city venue for hospitality operator Son of a Bun<\/a>. Meanwhile, Bull McCabe’s<\/a> on Airport Rd is set for conversion to residential. And The Viaduct on the Bandon Rd looks set to become a bus depot<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bar Electric becomes The Merchant<\/p>\n

On South Mall, Bar Electric re-opened under new owners<\/a> as The Merchant. Meanwhile, Brian Murray<\/a> of the Glass Curtain restaurant on MacCurtain St is set to re-open the Washington St premises formerly known as Chambers\/Sinners, with an enhanced food offering and a new name, Birdsong.<\/p>\n

The Wilton kicked off this uptick<\/p>\n

The notable uptick in pub disposals follows on from a strong start to the hospitality investment market in 2026, starting with the sale of The Wilton bar<\/a> for more than \u20ac3m, where well-known Cork-based publican Paul Montgomery is the front man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Popular suburban pubs such as The South County<\/a> in Douglas Village and The Grange<\/a> in Grange, also changed hands, for circa \u20ac2m and \u20ac1m-plus respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former was bought by publican Kieran Horgan of The Bishopstown Bar, while the latter was purchased by Jerh O’Connor Funeral Homes. <\/p>\n

However, the news was less positive for another popular suburban pub, the Silver Key in Ballinlough, which entered receivership last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Model Farm Bar & Bistro on Model Farm Rd has been sold for \u20ac1.1m to investors Sengfund,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[2736,781,79,29221,18,19,17],"class_list":["post-623342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-cork-business","tag-cork-news","tag-business","tag-consumer-affairs","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117048033065817544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623342","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=623342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}