It’s been revealed that a planned entertainment and leisure complex will now not be going ahead in Kilkenny’s High Street Mall.
The plans had raised quite a bit of controversy locally when they were given the green light by An Bord Pleanála in 2013, overturning a rejection by the council at the time.
It all started in 2012 when the application for an entertainment and leisure arcade was lodged with the council by Melcorpo Commercial Properties – owners of the High Street Mall.
After this application was rejected, the company appealed to An Bord Pleanála who then overturned that decision in 2013.
The remaining tenants in the Mall made their concerns known at the time, as did a number of local politicians.
However, between then and now little has been heard about those plans, until the subject came up for discussion again at the start of this year when Collins Shoes were told their lease there would not be renewed.
In the last number of weeks works have started on the site to combine the empty units there into one very large retail space – of approximately 1400 square metres.
Melcorpo have now confirmed to KCLR News that Sports Direct are the tenants that will be moving in there.
They say the works will hopefully be completed by the end of the summer and that Sports Direct should be moving in in September or early October.
They already have a large number of stores around Ireland.
