“This is heartbreaking for us,”

A newly opened tattoo shop is one of a number of businesses that are closed amid confusion over the future of The Boatyard market in Cobh.

Run by Cobh native Rob Coughlan, The Boatyard is also home to Roasted Coffee, Hook’d, Hansum and Harbour Burger as well as a beauty salon, all housed in colourful shipping containers next to the ferry.

The owners of Black Poppy tattoo studio, Barbara ‘Gin’ Naggi and Jake Stahlecker, opened the scenic new location, a sister studio to their Father Matthew Street HQ, at the location in July.

“At the end of last week, we were informed that Cork County Council has closed The Boatyard indefinitely due to unresolved planning and zoning issues and given less than 24 hours to close our doors,” the tattoo artists told their fans on Instagram.

The owners of the tattoo parlour claim they have been “ghosted” by The Boatyard and left out of the loop, leaving them with no choice but to tell their customers that their Cobh premises is closed.

“This is heartbreaking for us but unfortunately completely out of our control. We were never informed that these problems existed,” added Naggi.

“We were told all those issues were settled before we opened our shop.”

The Boatyard has been contacted for comment and will be releasing a statement on the situation in the coming days.