Month: November 2017

GLOW: A Cork Christmas Celebration

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Experience the festive season on the Grand Parade as the much-loved festival GLOW, A Cork Christmas Celebration opens this Friday December 1st. Attended by over 160,000 people in 2016, GLOW will run every weekend in the build up to Christmas, and also Christmas week from 20 to Friday 22 December.

Presented by Cork City Council, GLOW sees Bishop Lucey Park magically transformed into a winter wonderland by Cork’s own Dowtcha Puppets. The theme this year is Santa’s Cork Workshop.

Visitors will see the preparations underway for the big day - the elves are busy sorting, testing and wrapping the presents, the sleigh up on blocks getting ready for the big trip and the reindeer in the back field having some final training.
The sacks of presents are being lined up, children are posting their letters and you can catch a glimpse of Santa waving down from his balcony.
Dowtcha are bringing their puppets and performers to the people this year, and visitors, both young and young at heart, will have magical meetings with hard working (and sometimes confused) elves as they try to get presents FOR EVERYBODY ready in time!

This lit-up trail features ten superbly costumed performers, six elf puppets, two reindeer puppets and a giant Santa, all set to fantastic original Christmas themed traditional music commissioned by Edel O’Sullivan.

 

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Tony Fitzgerald said,

“Cork is really a special place, and this Christmas and we encourage everyone to come into the city to experience the wonder of GLOW, and to shop locally. With fantastic Christmas food markets, choral performances, a 30-meter Ferris Wheel and Santa’s Cork Workshop in Bishop Lucey Park, there is so much to see and do this year at GLOW, Cork’s Christmas Festival.”

 

GLOW will take place on the following dates:

Friday December 1st to Sunday December 3rd
Friday December 8th- Sunday December 10th
Friday December 15th- Sunday December 17th
Wednesday December 20th- Friday December 22th

 

Bishop Lucey Park will be open on these days from 4.30pm to 8.30pm and the Christmas Food Markets on the Grand Parade will be open from 12noon to 8.30pm. The Ferris Wheel will be open each day from 12noon to 9pm. See www.glowcork.ie for full details.

The opening of GLOW this Friday, with the Switch On of the Christmas Lights kick start the city’s seasonal celebrations, and with them a promotional drive by Cork City Council and the Cork Business Association to encourage people to come into the city centre and to shop locally in the lead-up to Christmas.

 

Cork’s 96FM, C103 and the Evening Echo are the media sponsors of GLOW 2017.

 

For further information contact Eimear O’Brien PR
086 8900364/eimear@eimearobrienpr.ie

Cork Better Building Awards 2017 announced

Posted on by cbaadmin

The winners of the annual Cork Better Building Awards were announced at our awards luncheon in the Imperial Hotel on Friday November 10th. Organised by the Cork Business Association, the buildings were judged on their design, maintenance and presentation, noting signage, pavement litter, planting as well as the impact of the building on the streetscape. Here is a list of the winners and reasons listed by the judges.

 

 Best in Retail: The Cork Flower Studio, Douglas Street.

With its stunning window displays and enlivened presentation onto the street, the Cork Flower Studio rightfully celebrates 10 years in business on Douglas Street. Its colourful and cheerful shop front sets a wonderful example for neighbouring businesses to follow suit by brightening up their shopfronts, contributing to the enhancement of the entire area.

Retail Special Merit Award Azure, George's Quay 

 

Azure is a perfect example of how a successful business can thrive and also help rejuvenate a previously, neglected quay front through the use of attractive colour, signage and window display.

By renovating this protected structure, Azure has improved this section of George’s Section drawing shoppers across the river from the traditional, island destination.

Best Cafe/Restaurant  Spitjack Rotesserie:

The judges were impressed by the way in which a vacant unit, previously in use as Cork Film Studios was sensitively renovated and changed into a vibrant new restaurant, adding to the culinary scene along Washington Street. The subtle use of colour on the ground floor shop front with replacement, timber, sash windows and painted signage overhead, compliments the red brick terrace of nineteenth century buildings, providing an attractive frontage onto the street.

Best  Commercial Building Frontage The English Market

As one of the city’s top tourist attractions and diverse places to shop and do business; the English Market has traditionally been accessed through its more prominent Prince’s Street entrance. However the provision of new signage and attractive painting of the Grand Parade entrance, has succeeded in highlighting the western entrance to the market, enticing pedestrians to further explore the delights of one of oldest municipal markets of its kind in the world.

Best New Development The Capitol on Grand Parade and Patrick's Street. 

New Development: The Capitol on Grand Parade and Patrick's Street.

The Capitol has breathed new life into the western end of St. Patrick’s Street and the Grand Parade, with the addition of new retail and office space and also the reopening of the historic Oyster Tavern. Following the closure of the Capitol cinema in 2005 with the site lying vacant for a number of years, this new development has rejuvenated the area and ensured the economic well-being of the city centre continues to flourish into the future

 Best Heritage & Conservation CIT/Crawford College, Grand Parade. 

Reputed to have been designed by the Pain brothers in circa 1840 as a dwelling, with a riverside annex, portico and balcony along Grand Parade, added later by another important Cork architect Sir John Benson for its use as the City Club House; 46 Grand Parade is a stunning building located at a prominent position on the Grand Parade and Southern Channel of the River Lee. As the new home of part of the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design, its careful restoration and re-purposing for this use, has ensured that this important protected structure will thrive once again and be admired by future generations of Corkonians and visitors

 Best Tourism / Arts & Accommodation The Montenotte Hotel.

Following its recent stunning refurbishment, the Montenotte Hotel provides a unique visitor experience; taking advantage of spectacular views of the city and surrounds from the Panorama Bistro and Terrace, housing Cork’s first hotel, in-house cinema and investing in the exquisite sunken Victorian Gardens. The Montenotte Hotel sets a new bar for hotel accommodation, providing a destination within a destination for visitors to the city

 Best Pub : Cask, MacCurtain Street.

Image result for cask cork

Image result for cask cork

Set in the heart of Cork’s Victorian Quarter, Cask provides a wonderful example of how stunning lighting and Art Deco-style interiors can contribute to the vibrancy of the street, attracting customers through its full-height arched windows onto MacCurtain Street. Formerly an antiques shop and part of the imposing, four-storey, former ‘Hibernia Buildings’, Cask is a unique, new cocktail bar with a cosmopolitan feel making perfect use of the seating area in the outdoor courtyard area and former carriage arch adjacent

Judges Choice St. Angela’s College St Patrick's Hill

Judges Choice: St Angela's College, Patrick's Hill. Pic: Denis Scannell

Opening its doors on its current location on St. Patrick’s Hill in 1888, St. Angela’s College has recently been redeveloped to huge success. Working with an extremely difficult, sloping site, the results are nothing short of spectacular. The judges felt that recognition was well deserved for this unique project because of its contribution to the continued operation of a city centre school, adding vibrancy to the area, the way in which its new build elements complement the setting, with the sensitive restoration of heritage buildings and take full advantage of its unique setting, framing diverse views of the surrounding city.