Courtyard Shopping Centre

The Courtyard Shopping Centre is a retail complex in County Donegal, Ireland. Located in central Letterkenny, close to the Library and Arts Centre, on the Lower Main Street side and the Bank of Ireland on the Upper Main Street side, it also overlooks Pearse Street and Oliver Plunkett Street. The structure is built spirally on a slope so, if approached from the Main Street entrance, the visitor, when making their way through the complex, descends into the ground via a series of escalators.

Courtyard Shopping Centre
The rear entrance of the Courtyard on Oliver Plunkett Street
LocationLetterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland
AddressLower Main Street
Opening dateOctober 21, 1993 (1993-10-21)
No. of stores and services40
No. of anchor tenants3 (Iceland, Sports Direct, Bookmark)
No. of floors3
ParkingMulti-storey
(400 spaces)
Websitecourtyardletterkenny.com
The rear of the Courtyard Shopping Centre as viewed from beneath the arch. The complex's multi-storey car park, which is built on a slope descending onto Pearse Street, is partially visible in the background.

Sports Direct and a Brand Max (formerly Heatons) the department store in which billionaire retail entrepreneur and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has a 50% stake, is one of the outlets to be found inside. Sports Direct is situated on multiple storeys.

History

The centre opened on 21 October 1993 and became the heart of shopping in Letterkenny. Mick Lally and Joe Lynch, known for their roles in the Bracken and Glenroe television programmes, performed the official opening, arriving aboard Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.[1] Coronation Street stars Kevin Kennedy and Ken Morley also appeared at the centre. The visits of notable people such as these are each commemorated throughout the complex with their own tiles, featuring a golden sketch of the person's outline. Among these are tiles dedicated to such Donegal personalities as Packie Bonner and Daniel O'Donnell.

Facilities

The centre as of May 2019 has 28 stores, with the anchor tenants being Bookmark formerly Eason and Sports Direct.[2] The north-west's premier chippy, the 4 Lanterns,[3] also has an outlet overlooking the Main Street entrance.

The centre was seriously affected by the recession and economic problems in Ireland in the late 2000s. Many stores closed, some businesses failed, and many stores decided to move to the Letterkenny Shopping Centre in Port Road of the town. The Letterkenny Shopping Centre has seen a rise in the numbers shopping there, but the Courtyard has seen their numbers drop. However the centre is still very popular with shoppers and especially students from Saint Eunan's College and the Loreto Convent Secondary School who frequent the centre during their daily lunch breaks.

The supermarket chain Iceland has a branch at the centre.[4]

The complex also contains its own multi-storey car park, and provides toilets, a baby changing room, Schindler lifts in the main centre and car park and an Infinity Lift in Sports Direct. It also has escalators to all floors.

Expansion

Paul Reynolds & Company Ltd. applied for planning permission to build another floor of retail space at the centre in mid-2007.[5] The application was approved and resulted in an extra 980 square metres of retail area. The centre went through changes in respect to the locations of its anchor tenants in 2008. Sports Direct expanded over three floors of the centre, occupying the former location of Costcutter and another floor was constructed to house the future Brand Max.

References
  1. Opening of the Courtyard, Letterkenny 1993
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-05-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-05-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. http://www.iceland.ie/storefinder/letterkenny/
  5. Planning Application: 0780087 Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine

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