By Brendan Carroll

City planners have given the go-ahead for a new hotel to be built on the site of Tonery’s Bar in Bohermore – but have ordered the removal of an upper floor from the plans, which will mean a reduction in the proposed number of 182 bedrooms.

Galway City Council has granted planning permission for the demolition of the existing pub building and the construction of a hotel, subject to a total of 29 conditions.

Carra Shore Hotel (Galway) Ltd had applied to the Council for permission to undertake the development on the 0.6-acre site, with four floors facing onto Bohermore Road and an additional two floors on the sloping section of the site to the rear.

This would include 158 standard rooms and 24 family/accessible suites, as well as a lounge and breakfast area.

But in granting permission, City Council planners have instructed the company to submit revised plans for the omission of the upper level fronting Bohermore Road, as well as some other changes to the design at ground floor level.

“The above amendments to the design and layout of the Hotel may result in a reduction in the floor area of the Lobby/Reception and a reduction in the number of rooms over all floor levels,” the Council’s Chief Executive’s Order added.

Carra Shore Hotel (Galway) is a hospitality company operated by Jalaluddin Kajani, a Pakistani-Irish textiles entrepreneur who moved into the hotel sector during the property crash.

He and his family operate the parent JMK Hospitality Group, which already owns the Hampton by Hilton and Holiday Inn Express in Dublin City, as well as the Holiday Inn Dublin Airport and Waterford Marina Hotel.

Three years ago, city planners granted permission to Peadar Tonery for the demolition of the two-storey 65-year-old Bohermore pub and the adjoining Bohermore Tyre Centre to construct a 138-bedroom hostel.

In a submission to Galway City Council, a landscape consultancy firm acting for the current applicants said that, along with the new Dean Hotel on the other side of the street, the Tonery’s hotel development “represents the early stages of a rejuvenation and reinterpretation of this neighbourhood to better serve both existing residents and visitors to Galway City”.

Pictured: A computer-generated image of the hotel as originally planned for the site of Tonery’s Bar in Bohermore which is to be demolished.