British listed pub group JD Wetherspoon will expand further in central Dublin next week with the opening of a new €4 million outlet in the so-called Silicon Docks area of the city, near to the headquarters of Google and Facebook.
The group will next Tuesday, December 7th, open the South Strand on Hanover Quay in the docklands, close to the plaza outside the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. Wetherspoon says the new development on the corner site of the old HQ gastrobar will create 100 jobs.
This will be Wetherspoon’s third venture in central Dublin, after the Silver Penny on Abbey Street in the city and the new Keavan’s Port hotel on Camden Street, which was developed at a cost of more than €27 million.
Wetherspoon, which was founded and is chaired by prominent Brexiteer Tim Martin, entered the Irish market in 2013 when it opened the Three Tun Tavern in Blackrock. That outlet is for sale for €2.5 million. Its other Irish outlets include pubs in Dún Laoghaire, Blanchardstown, Swords, Cork and Galway, with new projects in the pipeline for Waterford and Galway.
Mr Martin has previously said the group is on the lookout for more Irish sites. It recently paid €9 million for a site in Temple Bar, in Dublin’s tourist quarter.
Like its other outlets, the South Strand will have a focus on food sales, as well a theme around “real ales”, the company says.
