DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has refused permission for plans for a controversial new restaurant and guesthouse at Merchant’s Arch.
Council planners ruled an application to change the use of the building on the corner of Wellington Quay and Merchant’s Arch from a shoe shop to a licensed restaurant with eight guest rooms would undermine the character of the streetscape and amenities of nearby residents.
The plans had been opposed by An Taisce, residents of Temple Bar and independent councillor, Mannix Flynn.
The application by Terry Doyle to convert a building adjoining the historic Merchant’s Arch landmark was made in November after similar plans had been withdrawn earlier last year.
The building is currently used as the China Blue shoe shop, whose owner is set to retire after 30 years in business.
Consultants acting for Doyle said a more intensive use was being sought for a prominent building which is connected to the protected structure of Merchant’s Arch.
The plans provided for a new restaurant on ground floor level with the upper two storeys being used for a guesthouse.
“The guesthouse will cater for the tourism market and capitalise on the subject site being in the heart of the city within close proximity to the city’s core tourist and retail attractions,” they said.
The consultants said the proposed change of use of the building would contribute positively to the Temple Bar area and would provide much needed visitor accommodation in the city centre.
They claimed the restaurant would enliven Merchant’s Arch alley in contrast to its current “rather subdued” use.
However, An Taisce claimed the development would represent the loss of a retail unit that was an important element of the mixed-use attractiveness of the area when there were already many existing restaurants in the immediate vicinity.
The heritage body said it would prefer if the existing retail use of the building was retained, while it would also favour residential use for the upper floors over tourist accommodation given the city’s chronic housing shortage.
Councillor Mannix Flynn said Temple Bar was already oversubscribed with pubs which created constant noise problems for local residents.
Flynn said the proposed development would “undermine the cultural, built heritage of the much-loved Merchant’s Arch area.”
Last year, Temple Bar Residents claimed nobody could credibly argue that the area needed another pub or restaurant.
The group pointed out that the number of restaurants, cafés and takeaway units in Temple Bar had increased from 11 in 1984 to 85 in 2019, while the number of retail units had declined from 72 to 50 over the same period.
It also claimed the application represented “a Trojan horse” for the creation of another pub that would create the “nightmare scenario” of having one of the main entrances to Temple Bar being “flanked by two pubs” with the loss of existing small shops.
“The entire sense of place of Merchant’s Arch would be irretrievably lost,” said the group’s chairperson, Frank McDonald.
In its ruling, the council said it had significant concerns that the loss of a retail unit and the provision of additional licensed premises would negatively impact and further erode the variety and diversity of shops within Temple Bar’s cultural and artistic quarter.
The local authority said there was already a significant number of licensed premises in the area and the proposed development ran contrary to the objective of the city development plan to avoid the overconcentration of pubs and restaurants in Temple Bar.
Council planners made the same argument in relation to the proposed guesthouse given its proximity to other tourist accommodation in the vicinity.
They also claimed works necessary to convert the building to a guesthouse would seriously injure its architectural fabric as well as depreciate the value of other properties in the vicinity.
The latest ruling follows the controversy in 2021 over separate plans by publican, Tom Doone, owner of the Merchant’s Arch pub which will result in the loss of a series of other small shops on the other side of the famous thoroughfare which connects Temple Bar with the Ha’penny Bridge.
An Bord Pleanála upheld the council’s decision to allow the development of a restaurant and boutique hotel, despite strong objections from local residents who collected a petition with over 53,000 signatories against the project and organised a large protest in the city centre as well as against the recommendation of its own planning inspector.
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