The Dean Cork opened on 11 December 2020 on Horgan's Quay, beside Kent Station, as the Cork address of Press Up Hospitality Group's Dean brand, which also runs hotels in Dublin and Galway. It has 114 rooms, a rooftop restaurant called Sophie's and about 120 staff.
The hotel faces the north bank of the River Lee on Horgan's Quay, next to Kent Station, so a rail arrival is a few steps from the lobby. The city centre lies across the river.
The concept
Press Up Hospitality Group, the Dublin operator behind the Dean brand, describes the hotel as design-led.
Art is the clearest signature. More than 400 works by Irish artists hang through the building, bedrooms included. Names listed at opening include Domino Whisker, Shane O'Driscoll, the Project Twins and Leah Hewson, and Mark Francis made the artwork in the lobby.
The 114 bedrooms each have a smart TV with Netflix, a Nespresso machine, a mini fridge, a Dyson hairdryer and a rainfall shower, and the hotel says it removed single-use plastics from them. Opening rates started from 120 euros a night.
There are three function spaces and a hot-desking area with fast Wi-Fi, a choice that reads as a response to remote working in the first Covid winter. A gym, pool, sauna and steam room were announced for January 2021, after the hotel itself had opened.
Dining & wellness
Sophie's occupies the sixth floor and seats 230 around an open kitchen, with a heated, covered terrace looking over the River Lee and the city. The menu is New York Italian in spirit, combining dishes from the Dublin sister hotel with new ones built on Munster suppliers: crab from Castletown Bere, dairy from Glenilen Farm, and cured meats and cheese from Gubbeen Farm. The lobby serves light dishes, coffee, tea and pastries through the day.
