AN BORD PLEANÁLA has rejected an appeal to redevelop Dublin’s iconic Irish Yeast Company building into a pub.
Dublin City Council initially refused a planned development of the College Street building by Capital Estate Management Ltd earlier this year.
The company had proposed merging Bowe’s pub on nearby Fleet Street with the mid-18th century building by knocking through a wall between them.
The council refused permission after saying there would be an “unacceptable loss of historic fabric and legibility” under the proposed plans.
However, Capital Estate Management Ltd appealed the decision to the planning authority, who carried out an inspection in June.
It argued that the council did not acknowledge the poor condition of the building, including the prevalence of damp which it said had adverse effects on the fabric of the structure of the building.
The company also said that Dublin City Council’s Conservation Officer had overstated the quality of the historic fabric within the building, arguing that this had been compromised through neglect over a significant period.
It further contended that there was limited scope for reuse of the ground floor of the building, and that its existing stairs were unsafe, which compromised the suitability of the building for accommodation on the first and third floor.
However, in his ruling, An Bord Pleanála’s senior planning inspector Paul Caprani said that any development of the building would have to be “highly sensitive” to the historic fabric and special interest of the interior of the building.
Refusing permission, he added that the proposal to demolish the wall between the building and Bowe’s pub would give rise to a loss of its historic fabric, which would be both irreversible and “seriously injurious”.
The building was sold last year for €850,000 following the death of its owner John Moreland, who was born above his family’s shop and who lived in the listed building for 60 years before his death in 2018.
The building was bought by businessman Declan Doyle, who also owns Doyle’s pub, the former Ladbrokes betting store next door and Bowe’s on Fleet Street.
The proposed redevelopment involved more than doubling the size of Bowe’s pub from 142sqm to 336sqm as well as increasing the floor area of the Times Hostel premises beside 6 College Street.
With reporting from Cónal Thomas.
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