Campaign opposes new use of cafe

The Save Bewley's Cafe Campaign, which was launched three years ago to prevent the closure of Bewley's on Grafton Street, Dublin, has been resurrected to stop the opening of a shop in the former Bewley's premises on Westmoreland Street.

The new owners of the Westmoreland Street site, a group which includes Col Campbell, the former managing director of Bewley's Oriental Cafes, have applied to Dublin City Council to change the use of part of the ground floor of the building from a cafe to "retail use".

In their application, they stated that they envisage an "Avoca/Blarney Woollen Mills-type use" for the site.

Unlike the Grafton Street Bewley's which was redeveloped in 2005 as a cafe and two restaurants under the management of restaurateurs Jay Bourke and Eoin Foyle, the old Westmoreland cafe, which had traded since 1896, has remained closed since 2004.

In January 2005, Dublin City Council granted planning permission to Bewley's Oriental Cafes, the then owners of the Westmoreland Street site, to redevelop that site and change the ground floor use from a cafe to retail outlet. This decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by the Save Bewley's Cafe Campaign and An Taisce, and the change of use was refused by the planning board in June 2005.

The premises was subsequently sold in September 2006 to a group involving Mr Campbell, property developer Simon Kelly and the Thomas Read Group, which owns several bars and restaurants across Dublin, in a deal reported to be worth about €25 million.

The Thomas Read Group, which was to manage the Westmoreland Street premises as a cafe and restaurant, left the consortium two months ago.

Circumstances surrounding its exit from the consortium are not known. However, at the time of the sale in 2006, the managing director of the Thomas Read Group, Mark Leavey, said it had hoped to open a cafe and restaurant on the site before the end of 2007.

The current owners have now applied to the council to alter the planning permission to allow retail use on part of the ground floor.

Damien Cassidy of the Save Bewley's Cafe Campaign last night said the group was reforming and would meet in the Mansion House next week (courtesy of Lord Mayor Paddy Bourke) before submitting an objection to Dublin City Council in relation to the change of use.

"We are opposed to any retail use on the ground floor. That side of Westmoreland Street has been left dead for too many years now, and we want to see the cafe reopened but not squashed in at the end of a retail premises," said Mr Cassidy.