JD Wetherspoon to open new Dublin pub, create 120 jobs

British pub chain JD Wetherspoon is to create 120 new jobs with the opening of a new pub in Blanchardstown at the end of June.

Recruitment group Alexander Mann Solutions plans to create an additional 20 new jobs in Northern Ireland while UK contact lens manufacturer Moss Vision has announced a further 50 positions in Roscommon.

JD Wetherspoon has spent £2.82 million (€3.87m) developing The Great Wood on the site of the former Light Nightclub in Westend Shopping Park.

The group currently runs two pubs in the Republic - The Three Tun Tavern in Blackrock and The Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire.

It recently announced plans to open two other pubs - The Old Borough in Swords and The Linen Weaver in Cork city - in the coming months.

The company has acquired a number of other properties in the Republic of Ireland including a former homeless hostel on Camden Street in Dublin. The group is to invest more than €4 million developing a new pub and hotel at Camden Hall.

JD Wetherspoon, which plans to open 30 bars across Ireland over the next five years, was founded in 1979. It operates more than 900 bars across Britain.

Earlier this year, JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin told the Irish Times that the chain’s two Dublin bars were performing “in line with, if not better than expectations.”

The Great Wood will be open from 8am (licenced from 10.30am Monday to Saturday) until 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, 8am until 12.30am on Friday and Saturday and 8am (licenced from 12.30pm) until 11pm on Sunday. Food served throughout the day, from opening until 11pm, every day.

The name of the bar was chosen to reflect the fact that much of the present-day area of Blanchardstown and Coolmine was once covered by an ancient forest, known as the Great Scaldwood.

"Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into the pub and we are confident that it will be a great addition to the Blanchardstown community," said bar manager George Collins.

The recruitment group Alexander Mann Solutions plans to create an additional 20 new jobs in Northern Ireland by hiring graduates from a special academy it is running in Belfast this summer.

The London based company, which last year opened a Global Client Service in Belfast which will create 250 jobs once fully operational, plans to offer Higher National Diploma and degree graduates from any discipline the opportunity to take part in an intensive six week training programme which will lead to the opportunity to apply for a job with it.

Alexander Mann Solutions Recruitment Academy has already recruited 29 graduates from previous academies that have been held in the North.

The Academy was designed by the Department for Employment and Learning, Alexander Mann Solutions and Belfast Metropolitan College (Belfast Met) under the Assured Skills initiative.

Tracy Hurst, head of the Belfast Alexander Mann Solutions Global Client Service Centre,said: “As an organisation, we believe that people are the foundation of success and our ability to attract, retain and engage top talent is critical.

“This programme continues to be key in enabling us to hire a new generation of talented and high-potential individuals as we look to continue to build and grow our organisation in Belfast and support our clients across Europe and the Americas.”

Meanwhile, in Roscommon, UK contact lens manufacturer Moss Vision said it will create 50 jobs in a new manufacturing operation it will build in the town. The new facility will manufacture intraocular lenses for ophthalmic industry and hyaluronic acid-based viscoelastic to manufacture dermal fillers.

Chairman and managing director Mehul Asnani said he was "extremely excited" to announce Moss Vision's new venture in Roscommon, and he emphasised that the Roscommon facility will be very important from a strategic point of view for the company's future growth of business.

“This investment allows us to meet the demands of our growing business and take advantage of the high quality of talent available,” he said, adding that the company is also exploring additional opportunities to base in Ireland in the medium term.