{"id":644962,"date":"2026-08-19T06:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T06:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/644962\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T06:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T06:20:13","slug":"billionaire-tony-bloom-quietly-bankrolls-an-irish-property-funds-four-year-buying-spree-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/644962\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire Tony Bloom quietly bankrolls an Irish property fund\u2019s four-year buying spree \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premier League<\/a> club owner and professional gambler Tony Bloom has quietly loaned millions of euro to a Meath<\/a> property fund that is buying large amounts of Irish commercial<\/a> and residential property<\/a> assets.<\/p>\n

The billionaire owner of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club<\/a> has financed Star Stone Property Group\u2019s expansion across 19 loans since 2022, an analysis by The Irish Times has found.<\/p>\n

New records released by the property group show Bloom was recently involved in financing Star Stone Property Group\u2019s latest deal to acquire the Abbey Shopping Centre building on West Street, in Drogheda<\/a>, Co Louth<\/a>, in early August.<\/p>\n

It is understood the firm, which paid \u20ac600,000 for the property, has plans to convert its upper floors into 12 apartments with four shops on the ground floor. <\/p>\n

Star Stone Property Group already owns a number of commercial buildings in the town and Bloom has been linked to financing at least five transactions in central Drogheda in 2024. <\/p>\n

The Abbey Shopping Centre transaction comes soon after Bloom backed Star Stone Property Group to acquire 1-2 Upper O\u2019Connell Street, 29 North Earl Street and 10 Cathedral Street in Dublin<\/a> city centre for a reported \u20ac7 million in April. The company plans to convert those properties into a new hotel.<\/p>\n

The company based in Ashbourne, Co Meath, is led by Patrick McDermott, an accountant who comes from a beef-farming background. It is ultimately owned by Ben Keith, who founded UK betting shop chain Star Group. <\/p>\n

McDermott declined to comment on its latest property deal when contacted.<\/p>\n

The firm has spent large sums in recent years to acquire many retail properties. In 2022, it spent \u20ac12.5 million to acquire the High Street Ashbourne retail scheme in Meath. <\/p>\n

Two years later, it bought Drogheda\u2019s Southgate Shopping Centre for \u20ac13.2 million. Last year, it also completed a deal to buy Loftus Hall<\/a>, the Wexford<\/a> property reputed to be Ireland\u2019s most haunted house, for \u20ac3 million.<\/p>\n

Bloom has advanced funds to the firm across 19 deals since 2022. Between 2022 and 2024, he advanced a total of \u20ac4.5 million across eight loans for Dublin properties on Manor Street, Upper Dorset Street, Cabra Park, Berkeley Road and Grand Canal Place. <\/p>\n

In the past two years, he also advanced funds for Demesne Shopping Centre in Dundalk<\/a>, St Elena\u2019s apartments on Bessexwell Lane and commercial units on Palace Street and Wellington Quay, both in Drogheda, which were acquired by Star Stone Property Group. The amounts linked to these loans have not been disclosed.<\/p>\n

Bloom also loaned Star Stone Property Group funds in 2024 for its purchase of 946sq m of commercial space at 80 West Street and West End House in Drogheda. Some of buildings bought in this deal are situated immediately opposite Abbey Shopping Centre.<\/p>\n

He also advanced funds to the firm for a site on the corner of Connell Street and Lower Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork<\/a>, which has planning permission for a 180-bedroom hotel.<\/p>\n

Most of the loans provided by Bloom have since been refinanced by Star Stone Property Group with Bank of Ireland<\/a> and lender Capitalflow. <\/p>\n

Bloom only holds active charges over Abbey Shopping Centre in Drogheda, the O\u2019Connell Street hotel site in Dublin and Connell Street site in Cork.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Star Stone Property Group has also expanded its portfolio through the acquisition of half a dozen residential properties in Drogheda. These deals were financed by Bank of Ireland and Capitalflow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier League club owner and professional gambler Tony Bloom has quietly loaned millions of euro to a Meath…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[625,21,79,8611,1877,13415,52,23663,18,19,17,23664,1873,795,1658,29976,3439,130991],"class_list":["post-644962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bank-of-ireland","tag-brighton-and-hove-albion","tag-business","tag-commercial-real-estate","tag-cork","tag-drogheda","tag-dublin","tag-dundalk","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-louth","tag-meath","tag-premier-league","tag-property","tag-residential-investment","tag-retail","tag-shopping-centre"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117120730657769450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644962","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=644962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}