Former Derry bank could be turned into boutique hotel
Derry-based hotel company Short.Visits Ltd, bought the three-storey building on the corner of Strand Road and Sackville Street last year and have now lodged a planning application which includes a new street level bar and restaurant and a new fourth floor rooftop extension to accommodate additional rooms.
The building served as a bank for almost a century, until its closure in October 2021, with it later going on the market with a guide price of £500,000.
Described as the last classically inspired banking hall left in the city, and considered one of the best examples of its time, it was built for The National Bank in 1927/28 to designs by Derry architect James Patrick McGrath.
But the neo-Georgian building suffered significant damage from a 1979 bomb, and a new building was effectively constructed behind the listed Portland Limestone façade. The work, completed in 1986 saw the bank rebuilt internally and new redbrick bays added on both the Strand Road and Sackville Street sides.
Short.Visits was set up in 2020 by Laurence McDaid, John McDaid, Liam McGilloway and Mark Doherty and has a registered company address at Elagh Business Park on the Buncrana Road.
The company’s plans involve the construction of another floor on top in order to achieve 38 bedrooms, as well as external cladding to give a metallic finish.
In a report supporting its application, Short.Visits cited the potential economic and tourism benefits of the new hotel venture.
“With the peace process and agreement since 1998, the tourism sector in Northern Ireland as a whole and in particular Derry, has been growing year on year.
“The sector has resulted in the creation of job opportunities in the tourism industry in the city.”
The developer also raised the successful examples in Derry City of listed buildings being converted into successful boutique hotels, including Bishops Gate and the Shipquay Hotel
