The iconic Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street will shut for six months for major refurbishments costing €1m.
The Irish Times reports that 140 staff will be made redundant during the refurbishment process as the café aims to reduce annual losses of €1.2m.
The café will reopen later this year, but it will look a bit different than customers remember it. The new menu will be smaller and when reopened, the café will only operate from the ground floor with approximately 70 employees.
Speaking about the move to The Irish Times, Bewley’s chief executive John Cahill said the café ‘had the choice of either permanent closure or investing in a realignment and rejuvenation of the café’.
He went on to say that the resulting redundancies were “deeply regrettable”.
The move comes after Bewley’s unsuccessfully fought with its landlord to have its annual rent reduced.
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