The Courtyard Shopping Centre is a retail complex in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, located in central

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

Location

The centre is in central

, close to the Library and Arts Centre, on the Lower Main Street side and the

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...

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.

History

Paul Reynolds of Reynolds and Company developed the Courtyard Shopping Centre. Reynolds died after a prolonged illness in December 2020. The centre opened on 21 October 1993, with actors

Mick Lally Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broaden ...

and Joe Lynch (known for their roles in ''

Glenroe ''Glenroe'' was a television drama series broadcast on RTÉ One in Ireland between September 1983, when the first episode was aired, and May 2001. A spin-off from ''Bracken'' — a short-lived RTÉ drama itself spun off from ''The Riordans'' � ...

'') performing the official opening ceremony. ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'' stars Kevin Kennedy and

Ken Morley Kenneth Morley (born 17 January 1943) is an English actor and comedian best known for playing the role of Reg Holdsworth in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 1989 to 1995 and General Leopold von Flockenstuffen in the BBC sitcom Al ...

also appeared at the centre. These 'celebrity visits' are commemorated in the centre by tiles which feature a golden sketch of the person's outline. Other such tiles depict people like

Packie Bonner Patrick Joseph Bonner (born 24 May 1960) is an Irish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent his entire career at Celtic. He earned a total of 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland national football team after making his debut on h ...

and

Daniel O'Donnell Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell, MBE (born 12 December 1961) is an Irish singer, television presenter and philanthropist. After rising to public attention in 1983, he has since become a household name in Ireland and Britain; he has also had cons ...

. Within less than two years of its opening it had been awarded several prizes for its design and for its content. The owners applied for planning permission to build another floor of retail space in mid-2007. The application was approved and resulted in an extra 980 square metres of retail area. The centre went through further changes in 2008, with Sports Direct expanding over three floors, occupying the former location of

Costcutter Costcutter Supermarkets Group is a business based in the United Kingdom and Ireland primarily operating as a symbol group supplier to various independently owned convenience shops and off-licences. It has operations in the United Kingdom, the ...

. Another floor was constructed to house a Brand Max outlet.

Shops and facilities

The centre has its own

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

and, as of May 2019, had 28 stores. The supermarket chain

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

has a branch at the centre.

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

and Brand Max (formerly

Heatons Heatons is an Irish department store, established in 1946. The store specialises in fashion, homeware and sporting goods. They have 21 stores around Ireland, 20 in the Republic of Ireland and one in the Northern Ireland town of Enniskillen. Th ...

) is present, along with a bookshop and a chipper/takeaway. The centre was impacted by the recession and economic problems in Ireland in the late 2000s. Many stores closed, some businesses failed, and some other stores moved to the Letterkenny Shopping Centre in Port Road of the town.

References

External links

*
The Courtyard Shopping Centre on CompletelyRetail.
{{coord, 54.949, -7.737, region:IE_type:landmark, display=title 1993 establishments in Ireland Buildings and structures in Letterkenny Shopping centres in the Republic of Ireland