A new Wetherspoons for Dublin city centre.
UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon has announced plans for expansion in Ireland with the opening of a new pub and 98-bedroom hotel in Dublin city centre.
Plans to open the ‘superpub’ in the Camden Street area of Dublin city had been in the works for some time and on Monday, it was confirmed that development work would start on the project in February of next year.
Over €15 million will be spent on the pub and hotel and 200 jobs will be created at the site, which is currently a row of derelict properties in Camden Street.
It is set to open in early 2019.
Commenting on the announcement, Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “We are looking forward to developing the site into a fantastic pub and hotel.
“It will be the biggest single investment undertaken by Wetherspoon and will result in our largest hotel alongside a superb pub.
“Our pubs in the Republic of Ireland are thriving and we are confident that the pub and hotel will be a great asset to Dublin and act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in the city.”
The pub will be set over two levels and will feature a beer garden and among the 98 bedrooms in the hotel will be rooms that cater for people with disabilities.
A number of historical aspects of the derelict buildings will be retained and restored, including the circular stained glass window which was crafted by Earley & Company (church decorators, stained glass manufacturers and stone carvers), who were based at the site.
The window on the façade of 5 Upper Camden Street is considered to be the work of John Earley – son of the founder of the company.
Earley & Company became one of the largest and most prestigious ecclesiastical decorators both in Ireland and the UK, providing a high standard of ecclesiastical art. The studios closed in 1975 having been by the Earley family for more than a century.
Part of the terrace was also a convent of the Little Sisters of Assumption – from 1890 until the 1940s. Their former chapel will also be preserved and form part of the new pub and hotel.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
