Supermarket group Dunnes Stores is set to go into competition against its former supremo, gym club entrepreneur Ben Dunne. The company is planning to develop a gym on the site of Crumlin Leisure Centre in Dublin 12 as part of a huge redevelopment of the centre and the adjoining shopping centre.

It's not all bad news for Ben Dunne though: he's just negotiated a €1.75m discount on the nearby Carlisle Grounds. Dunne agreed to buy the grounds for more than €5m in 2000 and paid nearly €1.27m of that after he got the go-ahead for a leisure centre on the site. However, the council agreed to reduce the €5m payment after a restriction was placed on the type of development allowed. Dunne had to withdraw a planning application as a result and sought to renegotiate the purchase price. It has now been agreed that he will hand over another €2m, bringing total payments to €3.27m, nearly €1.75m less than the €5m originally agreed.

Dunnes Stores is planning to increase the size of its Crumlin shopping centre by nearly 70% and to build an off-licence, takeaway, two shops and a health club at the leisure centre.