From the Galway City Tribune – The Jurys Inn name is set to disappear from Galway after almost thirty years.

The operators of the hotel on Quay Street have sought permission to erect new illuminated signage as part of the chains rebranding to ‘Leonardo Hotels’.

Fattal Jurys Operation (Ireland) Ltd – which is owned by Israeli hotelier David Fattal – has sought planning permission for the new signage on the building to replace the existing branding.

It is part of a move by the company to rebrand all 35 Jurys hotels in Ireland and the UK.

Fattal Jurys operates the hotel, which is owned by Swedish hotel giant Pandox, a company which leases out more than 150 hotels across 15 countries.

Galway City Council will make a decision on the planning application by the end of January.

Two years ago, Jurys Fattal was given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála for a major extension to the Quay Street premises – including the construction of nearly 80 bedrooms and a larger entrance area.

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Permission was initially sought to add 89 rooms, but the company was sent back to the drawing board by the Council, which branded the scale and design “unacceptable”.

The Council also voiced concerns about negative impact on views and would “greatly detract” from the area overlooking the River Corrib.

Significantly scaled-back plans, including the omission of 10 of the proposed bedrooms, were approved. The revised plans included reduced size of the new wing and the building must be set further back, at 20 metres from the Corrib.

Aluminium panels originally proposed for part of the façade have been replaced by Kilkenny limestone. Proposed balcony extensions and recessed balconies facing to Wolfe Tone Bridge were omitted.

There were three objections to the plans during the initial planning phase – those objectors subsequently appealed the decision.

Environmental watchdog group An Taisce said the scale and height of the development would have an adverse visual impact on what is a prominent city centre location with protected views.

McDonogh Fertilizers Ltd – which owns the adjacent multi-storey carpark – said the future development potential of their site may be impacted on the basis that the hotel is reliant on carparking spaces in the carpark and that the existing agreement to provide spaces expires in 2028. They asked the board to assess the proposals on the basis that the parking spaces will not be available beyond that date.

Bernie and Mary Casey, who own the adjoining Costa Coffee – which shares Blake’s Castle with Jury’s – said they did not give any form of consent to the planning application being lodged and also lodged an appeal.

Jury’s also appealed a planning condition that it must contribute €127,500 to the City Council towards the provision of public transport facilities (due to the carparking demand created by the hotel).

An observation on the plans was submitted by Eugene McKeown from Barna who noted the importance of the Bruach na Coiribe walkway and asked that a strongly-worded condition be imposed in relation to noise coming from the boiler house adjacent to the walk.

An Bord Pleanála upheld the City Council decision to grant permission for the redevelopment, and ordered that the €127,500 contribution must be made.

The hotel opened its doors in April 1993 and introduced the ‘pay per room’ concept to Ireland, with peak season prices of £49 per room for two adults and two children or three adults sharing.