ONE OF DUBLIN city’s most recognised restaurants, Captain Americas on Grafton Street, is set to close and rebrand later this year amid a wider shake-up of the business behind the iconic venue.

The Grafton Street site will serve its final customers on Sunday before reopening later this year under a new name and concept: The Grafton Tavern.

First opened in 1971 by restaurateur Mark Kavanagh, Captain Americas became a well-known establishment among diners, tourists and late-night crowds.

The restaurant was acquired by the McKillen family in 1993 and has remained family owned since then.

In a statement announcing the closure, the family said changing consumer habits and the evolving city centre hospitality market had significantly impacted the business in recent years.

The revamped venue will apparently take inspiration from the brasseries of Paris and New York, with a focus on Irish produce, all-day dining and what operators described as “timeless hospitality” and “relaxed elegance”.

It will also include a pub, meaning the building will remain as the only licensed pub on Grafton Street.

“Captain Americas has been part of Dublin life for generations and we are immensely proud of its legacy,” the McKillen family said.

“It never would have become such a special part of Dublin life without the incredible people who worked there and the generations of customers who supported us over the years.”

To mark the end of an era, memorabilia and historic items from the restaurant will also be auctioned off over the coming weeks.

The closure comes after legal and financial difficulties involving the business over the past year.

In 2024, the company operating the Grafton Street restaurant entered examinership, while court filings later revealed an ongoing dispute over the licensing rights to the Captain Americas brand between companies linked to Paddy McKillen Jr and the Cheyne Capital-controlled hospitality group formerly known as Press Up.

Court documents showed the Grafton Street business had been warned to stop using the Captain Americas branding over alleged breaches of a franchise agreement, claims which were disputed by the restaurant operator at the time.

The Captain Americas restaurant in Blanchardstown is unaffected, and will remain open.