A Wright Group subsidiary, Mink Fusion Ltd, has paid €275,000 for the leasehold interest of the building that housed celebrity chef Dylan McGrath’s former Rustic Stone restaurant on Dublin’s South Great Georges Street.
The payout by Mink Fusion is revealed in documents lodged with the Companies Office by the joint liquidators – Dessie Morrow and Diarmaid Guthrie of Azet – of the operator of Rustic Stone, Prime Steak Ltd.
In July, Mink Fusion secured the planning green light from Dublin City Council to transform Mr McGrath’s former Rustic Stone restaurant in Dublin into a gastropub.
In a submission to the city council on behalf of Mink Fusion, planning consultant, Anthony Brabazon of ABA Architects urged the council to grant planning, pointing out that Mink Fusion “as tenants under a lease are paying substantial rent and would like to get the business open”.
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A spokeswoman for the Swords-based Wright Group, which employs more than 700 people in the hospitality sector, confirmed on Wednesday that the group is aiming to open the MJ Wright Pub for “mid to late October”.
The planning permission granted by the council to Mink Fusion Ltd came 10 months after Mr McGrath shut down Rustic Stone and Brasserie Sixty6, both located on South Great Georges Street, on August 15th, 2024.
[ Wright Group gets go-ahead to turn former Rustic Stone restaurant into gastropubOpens in new window ]
The operator of Rustic Stone, Prime Steak Ltd, was placed in voluntary liquidation and the new documents show Mink Fusion Ltd paid €275,000 for the leasehold interest on January 24th of this year.
The €275,000 received represented the bulk of the realisations of €306,850 recorded by the liquidators to date.
The total disbursements amount to €302,419 and the largest portion of that was rent arrears of €133,983 paid to Stowford. Joint liquidator fees total €24,600.
The liquidators’ document states that at the commencement of the winding up, secured creditors were owed €794,786 and unsecured creditors were owed €957,689.
A planning report lodged with the application by Manahan Planners stated that a gastropub operation “offers a more sustainable business model than the previous restaurant, given current market conditions”.
The Manahan Planners report also said the change of use “would bring a vacant commercial property back into active use, contributing to the vitality of Dublin’s city centre”.
