Courthouse Hub Opening
The Old Courthouse, is an iconic building in the West Cork heritage village of Timoleague and was built in the year 1700.
Over three hundred years later, the Courthouse still sits in all its glory in the centre of Timoleague village. The building has seen many changes down through the years from the original Courthouse upstairs and a livestock market downstairs every Thursday, to a petrol pump station, an English Executive Language school, an art gallery and now a beautifully appointed AirBnB apartment upstairs and a digital co-working Hub downstairs on the ground floor.
Paul and Sharon Crosbie, originally from Cork and Kinsale, spent 23 years in Dublin and have come back and settled in their cottage in Cregane which was a summer bolthole for their family over the last 15 years.
They purchased The Old Courthouse in 2021 during the height of Covid and have been running an AirBnB upstairs. They have been developing the ground floor of the building into a co-working space to service the surrounding area.
Paul says, “After a number of delays, we are delighted to finally open the doors of The Courthouse Hub. After 35 years of working in an office environment within the Irish media industry, I felt this was the way work-life was going. Pre-covid, the key word in business was ‘work/life balance’. Some companies made half-hearted attempts to satisfy this staffing aspiration, but saying and doing are two different things”.
“ Then covid 19 came along and changed everything. Work habits had to adapt and so did companies. Anyone at the time, still in a functioning, working role had to adapt and work remotely. This was the start of the remote working revolution and how people would work into the future”.
“Co-working spaces became a huge part of this change and is now part of the working fabric in Ireland coupled with the re-generation of rural towns and villages. It has pushed government into accelerating the push for nationwide broadband which has certainly had its issues, but at least it has started and is welcomed”.
“Working from your own home can have its own challenges… mixing family life with work life has its difficulties. Wifi speed issues, isolation from interacting with others in an office environment or remote geographical locations can all cause problems. We hope the Courthouse Hub solves many of these issues and enhances a work/life balance for people.
The Hub offers different types of workspaces from open workspace, to semi-open and private spaces at a low cost.
“We can offer individual spaces or group spaces in a friendly, work orientated environment right in the middle of the village and we hope it will be of benefit to the community and attracts more people into the centre of the village, which in turn creates a vibrant village community”.
“The Hubs motto is ‘sometimes… everybody needs a little space.’ Our challenge is to ensure we can be flexible enough to be able to facilitate all our customer needs and this will be a learning curve for us, but one we are looking forward to taking on”.
The Courthouse Hub opens for business from March 13th and they are having an Open Day on the 10th March from 10am to 2pm if anyone wanted to come in and have a look around, Paul and Sharon would be delighted to welcome people in and show them the spaces.
Local historian, Donal Whooley, will be cutting a ribbon and saying a few words outside the building @ 2.30pm and everyone is welcome.
