Businessman Pat Doherty is about to seek a revised planning permission for a £10 million shopping centre in Drogheda. A previous plan was approved by Drogheda Corporation but subsequently turned down by An Bord Pleanala. The £10 million development will front on to St Laurence Street, William Street and Palace Street, occupying the site of the former Drogheda Grammar School and the old Methodist Church and Drogheda Credit Union offices. The scheme will include a 35,000-square-foot supermarket, 39 shop units, 12,000 square feet of offices and a 350-space car-park. Mr Doherty paid £700,000 for the school site and bought eight other properties to bring the site up to three acres.

In recent years, Drogheda has lost out to other towns in the area because of the absence of sufficient car-parking close to the main shopping street, West Street.