patrick street, cork

There’s a really interesting little story developing regarding a certain clock on St. Patrick Street.

With AIB’s latest raft of branch closures, they have vacated their Bridge Street branch and moved the business and staff to their (recently refurbished) Patrick Street branch (near Penneys). When they moved, they also took the ornate clock attached to the Bridge Street building with them. This can now be seen gracing the Patrick Street branch.

The clock itself, though very attractive is not very new (1985, according to AIB) and though designed to look traditional is in fact made up of metal and re-inforced plastic.

Nevertheless, there is now the ‘hoohaa’ over whether the clock should have (a) been removed from Bridge Street (b) been installed in Patrick Street (where, it has to be said, there is an embarressment of riches when it comes to public clocks) and (c) shouldn’t AIB have applied for planning permission for all this?

A planning application for retention is now before Cork City Council. Although perhaps a planning application to allow its removal from Bridge Street should also have been neccesary?

AIB have made much of the Irish Times’ precedent for removing their famous clock from Westmoreland Street to D’Olier Street and then recently to Tara Street:

“The case of the Irish Times clock is very similar to the AIB clock in question, in that the business has moved premises, and the main branch of AIB Bank is now at 26 Patrick Street and the staff who have worked for many years at 10 Bridge Street are now located at 26 Patrick Street”.