The front page of "The Cork Examiner" ran the following article on the fire that destroyed most of the Princes Street Market on Friday morning, June 20th 1980. At the time the paper just cost 0.15p which included V.A.T.
Hugh blaze engulfs historic city market.
One of the Countries most historic trading venues, the Princes Street market situated in the heart of Corks city centre, was destroyed by fire last night.
Flames swept through the 200-year-old buuilding causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and putting at least 12 stall holders out of business.
It is believed that a gas explosion started the fire shortly before 11.30 pm. Within minutes flames were leaping 30 feet into the air through the roof of the building and a short time later the roof collapsed. At the height of the blaze the flames could be seen from up to 2 miles away. Six units of the Cork Fire Brigade from the Anglesea Street and Watercourse Road stations fought the blaze from a number of the entrances to the market. All available fire brigrade personnel were called in. Even off-duty firemen who came upon the scene, abandoned their cars and came to the assistance of their colleagues. Premises in the immediate area were evacuated. Cork's Fire chief, Captain Cathal Garvey, who together with 2nd Officer Tom O Leary, directed the fire fighting operation, said that the blaze was under control within 30 minutes. The prompt action of the fire-fighters, who had to force their way into the padlocked shopping precint, prevented the fire from spreading to the Grand Parade section of the market.
The new roof structure at this end, only recently erected, was not damaged. All available gardai were called in and they had the difficult job of preventing passers-by from getting to near the action. Supt. Patrick O'Connor explained that there was a real danger of further gas explosions. A report that their was a fire in one of the major city stores in the city was investigated but gardai said that they believed that it was the smoke from the Princes Street Market billowing over the city centre which resulted in the false alarm. By 12.30 a.m. many of the 113 stall holders were on the scene, and under gardai supervision some were allowed to retrieve their merchandise.
Among the hundreds of people at the scene was Fine Gael's deputy leader Mr. Peter Barry, T.D. who has a shop in Princes Street. He described the fire as "a tragedy for the city of Cork." Traders in the "English Market", as the entire market is commonly called have sold meat, fruit, vegetables, butter, poultry, fish and other Cork delicacies such a s tripe and drisheen since 1780. The buildings in the complex were erected in 1881, and today over 80 independent traders carry on business there in over 100 stalls. For decades the market has stod out as a feature of the business and commercial life in Cork city. The stalls there have been passed on from family to family, and from generation to generation. Likewise, the customers and their patrons have come down through family ties and their loyalty to the English Market has withstood the sales pressures of the supermarkets, the attraction of "the special offer", and the general exodous of families to the suburbs. In August of 1977 Cork's city manager, Mr T. J. Mc Hugh, and a sub-committee of Cork Corporation held discussions with the English market traders following the Corporation's approval of a new £450,000 market redevelopment scheme. At that time concern was expressed at the state and condition of the Grand Parade English Market, particularly the rapid deterioration of the roof. The new draft scheme envisaged the construction of a new steel roof on piled foundations, and the proposal was that the work would take place at night, and under floodlights, and at weekends, in the interest of public safety.
The reconstruction started in the early part of 1979, and in facy the roofing had been completed. Fortunately the new roof section of the market escaped fire damage, last night. The actual refurbushing was scheduled to take over 18 months, and was nearing completion. During the renovations each stallholder was required to vacate his or her stall area for four months, and in an effort to offset this inconvenience 15 temporary stalls were made available at the Grand Parade end of the shopping area.
There was a ray of hope last night for those traders unfortunate enough to have had their stalls damaged as Mr. Denis Cronin, estates officer with Cork Corporation, said that the major area of the market unaffected by the outbreak will be open as usual today. Those stallholders who had their property damaged would be accommodated as soon as possible in other sections of the market.
Original report by Denis Reading and Noel Spillane
