An application to retain a new Temple Bar superpub, the Giddy Dolphin, which has been operating without planning permission, has been refused by Dublin City Council planners.
The new owners of the Clarence Hotel and Dollard House lodged plans in May seeking retrospective approval for a change of use from retail (artisan delicatessen) to licensed premises with food service at the Giddy Dolphin in Dollard House on Wellington Quay and Essex Street East, in Dublin 2.
Documents lodged by planning consultants Stephen Little & Associates said that Keywell Dac, the new owners of the hotel, were seeking retention of the pub “in the interests of protecting existing contractual employment arrangements on site” ahead of a preparation of a comprehensive planning application for the Clarence and Dollard House.
Mr Little said the Giddy Dolphin was a sitting tenant in Dollard House.
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However, the city council concluded that “the proposed retention of the licensed premises in its current format would constitute a ‘superpub’ which is discouraged and would add to an over-concentration of licensed premises in the immediate area which would be detrimental to other uses in the locality”.
It found the applicant had not demonstrated how the proposal “will not erode or directly negatively impact on cultural or artistic facilities within the Temple Bar area or complement the role of Temple Bar as a mixed use cultural quarter”.
The planners said that, on balance, the proposed development would undermine the character of the site, the streetscape and the amenities of nearby residents, would result in an undesirable precedent for similar type development, and would depreciate the value of property in the vicinity.
Temple Bar resident Declan O’Brien, who was the sole objector to the application, said it would “further erode the diversity of retail in the area”.
“There is already an oversaturation of licensed premises in the Temple Bar,” he said. “Granting this expansion will further tip the balance away from the eclectic mix of business outlets that defines the area.”
He urged the council to refuse the application, warning that, if granted, “it would normalise a flagrant breach of the conditions for the existing planning permission”.
Mr Little had argued that the proposed change of use “is consistent under the current land use zoning” and “compatible with the permitted use of upper floors for micro brewery, restaurant and hotel use”.
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