Laois village brews plans for community café in thatched cottage

The community of Camross has set in motion the planning process for a project which will result in a community cafe for the Slieve Blooms village.

The Camross Heritage CLG has initiated contact with Laois County Council for cafe which will be located at the Poet's Cottage at the heart of the community.

Permission is to be sought for a change of use of an existing heritage office to a community café. The works will include the demolition of existing fabric and internal alterations. New external doors, windows, and external awnings is planned alongside some external landscaping work.

Retention Permission is being sought for an as-built position of the existing front door and adjacent window.

Camross Heritage spokesperson commented: "The first steps taken on the road to opening the Poet's cottage as a community cafe as we look for permission to change its use from a community centre to a community cafe".

The work follows the awarding of over €256,403 towards the project in 2024 under the EU Just Transition Fund (EU JTF) programme, co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union.

The cottage is named after Patrick Ryan, a poet who lived in Camross between 1750 and 1825 who wrote about the natural beauty and the people of this community and is currently a tourist attraction that represents Irish rural life from the 1800’s.

This replica thatched cottage gives visitors a sense of what daily life must have been like for most people in rural Ireland in the 1800s.  It was originally built as a Millennium Heritage Project by the local FAS team. 

The plan for the community cafe and the funding attracted is the latest significant development and investment in Camross in recent years. The Camross Community Complex has a wide range of facilities including a multipurpose sports pitch, community garden, riverside outdoor classroom, floodlit walkway, seating srea, multipurpose HUB & gym.