Plans to knock Cuckoo's Nest Pub

• Tallaght
• January 25, 2019

By Mary Dennehy

TIME could be called on any hopes of the Cuckoo’s Nest re-opening, after a site notice proposing the demolition of the pub to make way for a four-storey apartment building was erected.

A site notice, dated January 10, has been erected on the existing Greenhills Road building seeking the ‘modification’ of the original planning permission, which provided for a public house on site.

Cuckoo's Nest on the Greenhills Road 

The original planning permission, granted to applicant Phyllis Lynch by South Dublin County Council in January 2017, provided for a mixed-use and residential development consisting of 39 three-bed houses and six two-bed apartments.

The housing estate Temple Woods has since been completed, with people moving into the new development.

The original planning permission also provided for alterations and renovations to the existing pub and the demolition of Tallaght Theatre, which has since been reconstructed in the north-west corner of the site.

However, according to the site notice erected earlier this month, applicant Legendstand Ltd is now seeking permission for the ‘demolition of the remainder of the existing public house and in its place, the construction of a four-storey apartment building’.

The proposed building will house 26 apartments, 11 one-beds and 15 two-beds.

In March 2017, the Lynch family put the Cuckoo’s Nest and its 4.5 acres of land on the market for a guide price of €4m, with a deal sealed with a new owner by the end of that year. 

In a previous interview with The Echo, Bernard Lynch, whose parents Phyllis and the late Peadar bought the Cuckoo’s Nest in the early sixties, confirmed that the plan was to always sell the land – with the family hoping to enter into discussions with the new buyer or developer about a pub and restaurant on site.

The Cuckoo's Nest as it was when the Lynch's bought it in the early sixties 

The Echo contacted Bernard Lynch this week, who reiterated a message posted by the family on Facebook.

According to Bernard: “We had no indication that the new owner of the Nest site was going to lodge a new application which would not include provision of a public house, until like yourselves it was announced this week.

“It’s disappointing but let’s see what happens.”

Attempts to contact those connected with the development were not successful prior to The Echo going to print.

The planning application can be viewed at the offices of South Dublin County Council, County Hall, Tallaght or through visiting www.sdcc.ie