Secrets, Cork’s oldest sex shop makes way for new café

The Parnell Place institution is no more.

Corkonians will be familiar with Secrets (even the ones who try to deny it), the old school adult store specialising in saucy dvds, magazines, gifts and even viewing booths for those who can’t wait til they get home. Secrets didn’t judge – just supplied the goods.

However, the speciality coffee train waits for no man, and its been confirmed that Secrets will be hanging up its handcuffs to make way for a new café.

Cork-based Twitter page What If Cork announced the news this week, in a post accompanied by a photo of the Parnell Place shop sporting a new paint job.

The former Adult Shop on Parnell Place is soon to be a new cafe. pic.twitter.com/PpKziDLamU

— What If Cork (@what_if_cork) July 24, 2022

A cheeky zoom into the windows will reveal a coffee grinder and assortment of syrups ready to be pumped into morning brews, with an artfully spaced out menu replacing the magazines and dvds that once lined the walls.

While the announcement of the closure has garnered its fair share of tongue-in-cheek commentary online, many Cork City dwellers are sad to see Secrets go, noting the ample selection of cafés already in business in the area.

On Twitter, one person wrote: “Not to be a freak on main but we have enough coffee shops”, another said: “I adore Cork’s cafe culture, I think its a massive selling point for the place but could we get like a bookshop-library-cafe? With the amount of cafes in Cork, if you’re opening another one then it has to be something different”.

Header image via Google Maps 

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