It takes a brave man – or two in this case – to open a restaurant in a year that saw more than 200 close across the country in its first four months. But the Restaurants Association of Ireland’s report in April hasn’t put the frighteners on brothers Marc and Conor Bereen, who will reopen the doors of their once enormously popular Dublin restaurant Coppinger Row on Friday. Bookings opened on July 11th, reflecting the brothers’ optimism that this one-time favourite haunt of locals and destination diners alike can reclaim its status in a neighbourhood that – despite the dark cloud of closures – is still buzzing with hip new haunts and long-time culinary favourites.
The restaurant, on the cobbled alleyway of the same name that connects Clarendon Street with South William Street in Dublin, first opened in 2009 and quickly gained the kind of “local treasure” status that often takes decades to earn. This was in large part down to that one intangible, which Coppinger Row (now renamed simply Coppinger) had buckets of: charm. Like its owners, it had a good-looking, laid-back vibe that was endearing and unpretentious. It ticked other boxes, too: a slick, slightly industrial interior with a fashionable open kitchen; a crowd-pleasing but considered menu of Mediterranean-inspired, Irish-influenced dishes; and an easy-going atmosphere that welcomed customers looking for a light bite as much as corporate tables of big spenders. Customers could graze or feast as they preferred.
“It was important to us that Coppinger Row had an open door,” says Marc, the older of the two brothers by 18 months. “We wanted everybody, regardless of their budget, to feel welcome, and I think that’s something we did really well.” Conor agrees: “The spend may not be great on a table with two friends enjoying a couple of cocktails, but that was an important part of what we wanted to create. Dining out is about the collective.” Such was the restaurant’s success that alongside the girl gangs, couples and corporates who flocked there daily came a celebrity clientele: U2, George Clooney and Beyoncé to name a few. As Conor says, “It hit a lot of the right tones.”
Opening any restaurant is a risk but we knew we had local support and that the model worked
As the sons of a psychiatrist and an actor who loved to entertain, the brothers undoubtedly inherited a lot of the basic know-how needed to navigate the knotty emotional and practical challenges of running a restaurant. It’s a performative business, requiring keen people-management skills. Given their own qualifications and experience – Marc spent two years at the Gaiety School of Acting and has been immersed in the hospitality industry since his student days; and Conor is a graduate in fine art from Central Saint Martins in London, a former professional model and an accomplished artist – you might wonder what could possibly have gone wrong for a restaurant that had successfully weathered a recession and a pandemic.
The Young Offenders Christmas Special review: Where’s Jock? Without him, Conor’s firearm foxer isn’t quite a cracker
Restaurant of the year, best value and Michelin predictions: Our reviewer’s top picks of 2024
When Claire Byrne confronts Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary on RTÉ, the atmosphere is seriously tetchy
The closure did not come down to any of the usual factors that cause restaurants to fail: soaring running costs, food price hikes, bad management or customer fatigue. Instead it was the landlord’s decision to redevelop the site that sent the Bereen brothers’ lives into a temporary tailspin. “Aviva owns a number of buildings on South William Street that back on to the Coppinger site,” says Marc. “To make these buildings viable to lease out, it needed to construct an emergency fire escape through Coppinger, which would involve big construction work and require the restaurant to close down. Unfortunately, Aviva wasn’t willing to guarantee us a new lease and insisted on putting the property on the open market.”
The brothers had managed to secure the original lease, despite being two unknowns in business, just as the property market was imploding and big players were pulling out; their rolling short-term lease arrangement lessened any risk for a landlord, but gave them no automatic right to renew.
So the restaurant shut its doors – against the backdrop of an emotional outpouring on social media from devoted diners – and the brothers swiftly picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and worked furiously to prove their business acumen and restaurateur credentials to compete with larger hospitality groups and win back the lease on a space that had meant so much to them over the previous 15 years. In March 2022 they opened the bijou suburban eatery Orwell Road in Rathgar, followed by the casual but chic Row Wine Bar in April 2023, conveniently located beside Coppinger. The brothers’ portfolio also includes the upmarket but affordable Charlotte Quay restaurant in the heart of Dublin’s tech hub at Grand Canal Dock, which they opened in 2016.
“We just kept fighting to prove we were as strong and competent as any other business owners,” says Marc. Their dogged determination paid off and, despite interest from other parties, Aviva eventually agreed a new 25-year lease with their former tenants, which the brothers describe as nothing short of “fantastic”.
[ Six great food stalls around Ireland to look out for this summerOpens in new window ]
We chat over video, Marc from his home in Rathgar, which looks refreshingly uncurated with a bundle of laundry strewn haphazardly in the background, and Conor from an incredibly ornate interior somewhere in Capri, where he’s holidaying, which seems like a fitting backdrop for a former model and respected painter. Both brothers seem very much at ease with how their fortunes have played out over the past three years.
Coppinger Row felt like it had always been there. It was like that comforting jumper you felt really at home in
— Marc
It was the late chef and author Anthony Bourdain who once remarked, “If anything is good for pounding humility into you permanently, it’s the restaurant business”, and certainly both brothers are nothing but humble when speaking about the hand they were dealt. Neither reveals a hint of ego or entitlement. The relationship with Aviva never soured, and Marc describes the individuals they deal with there as “super empathetic and professional” and “very supportive”. The 47-year-old adds: “We just wanted to get Coppinger Row back. A better businessman wouldn’t make decisions based on emotion, but there was a lot of emotion attached to this move.”
Conor, who stepped back from the day-to-day operational side of the businesses several years ago to pursue his artistic practice, says this remove gives him the advantage of an objective eye. “I could weigh up the pros and cons from a distance,” he says. “We had a real local business that resonated with customers. Opening any restaurant is a risk but we knew we had local support and that the model worked.”
The restaurant’s reincarnation will, the brothers say, maintain the essence of the original Coppinger Row, describing it as the same “convivial” space with a “heritage” feel. “Coppinger Row felt like it had always been there,” says Marc. “It was like that comforting jumper you felt really at home in.”
Conor agrees, describing it as “a go-to neutral ground that local people needed. They want familiar spaces like Grogans and Hogans that are indicative of the city. Coppinger Row became part of the city and we hope it will again.” The 45-year-old is responsible for materialising the brothers’ creative vision, and he worked with Ballsbridge-based architects SSA to bring that same familiar feeling diners enjoyed at Coppinger Row to this new phase.
But, says Marc, “The food industry is a fashionable business; fashions in food and restaurant interiors move on, and Coppinger has to reflect this. We may get a bit of kickback because of it.” He knows more about industry trends, fads and whims than most, having worked in the industry for the best part of three decades. He got his first table-waiting gig as a student at Tosca, Dublin’s original chichi celebrity haunt, owned by Bono’s brother Norman Hewson until it closed in 2000. Performance in the traditional sense wasn’t for him, but he was instantly drawn to the buzz of the restaurant floor. “I felt I’d found my stage. Restaurants just felt so alive.” He remembers his mother describing how she would fall in love with the crew on every theatre and film set she worked on. “It’s the same in this business. You wind up sharing more with these people than with those closest to you.”
It’s not surprising then that Marc views their four restaurants “as children ... They each have individual personalities; one might be behaving well, the other badly.” If Coppinger Row had the appearance of a golden child, the brothers reveal it wasn’t quite so. “Everybody thinks of it as this super-success, but it took a year to 18 months to really get going. We started off with just a menu of plates – the idea of plate eating was big in Paris and Barcelona – but it didn’t work. People wanted a traditional starter and main course so we went with that, but it took time to achieve the right mix and for the place to get busy at lunchtime and evenings.” Under the stewardship of Dan Hannigan, who is now executive chef across all four restaurants, the menu has been revised and updated, promising a few of Coppinger Row’s classic dishes alongside a host of fresh plates and flavours.
One aspect that won’t change is the open-door policy. “There’s a lot of people right now who don’t have big budgets. I think it’s something we’re all experiencing. We want everyone to know they can come into Coppinger, feel glamorous and have a cocktail and a crab starter without needing to have 200 quid in their pocket.” That said, the pair still have a keen eye on their bottom line. They recognise Coppinger occupies a tricky position in the marketplace. “We’re not a cheap business with cheap bites, nor are we at the higher end where you can charge whatever you like,” says Marc. “We spend a lot on decor, we have talented chefs who must be paid well and we need a sommelier and floor staff. The cost of running a restaurant at our level is high and since we closed Coppinger Row, the cost of buying a steak has risen from €35 or €36 to €42, but that’s not a €6 profit for the restaurant; that’s simply the cost of buying in the steak.”
Both brothers point out that there are no deep pockets funding this enterprise other than the bank. “We have debts attached to the business, a bank loan; we have to pay our creditors back and that means making a profit, and quickly. These are scary times,” says Marc.
[ 22 great garden centres where you can find a good lunch tooOpens in new window ]
Yet neither one looks shaken. Both appear relaxed and make for easy interviewees; they are chatty, forthright and appreciative of the interest. They bounce off each other, making space for each other in the conversation, and while they reveal they’re having great fun working together right now, they admit that the relationship has been tested through the years.
In their twenties, they ran The South William bar, an enormously popular Celtic Tiger haunt, which they closed to turn their long-held dream of owning a restaurant into a reality. “We were both doing the same job there; we were on top of each other every day, and we were partying a lot, and the relationship inevitably suffered,” says Marc. He adds that he often brought “the big brother dynamic” into the workplace, “but when you’re business partners that can be a problem.” He adds, “We wanted to be brothers again and we realised back then that if we kept working as tightly as we had been, something would have to give and neither of us wanted it to be our relationship.”
Dan and I went for lunch in Kicky’s the other day. I was looking to tear it apart, but there was nothing I could criticise
— Marc
For Conor, it was more complicated. “In the two or three years after the 2008 crash, what struck me was just how much work this job involved and how deep down I’d lost that passion for the day-to-day aspect of it. I had a really strong itch to get back to being a creative.” In 2012, his son Leon was born and moved to Brazil with his mother. “I was visiting him a lot and I became very detached from work. I had other concerns, but also spending so much time in a new country full of new stimuli gave me inspiration.” This was when his journey to becoming a practising artist really began, and in 2015 he took a sabbatical and spent six months in Brazil, soaking up the sun, spending quality time with his son and making the most of the opportunity to just paint without the outside noise of running a business. “As corny as it sounds, art is in the practice, and once I started painting again, it was as if I had the reassurance I needed that, yes, I am a painter.”
Leon now lives in Dublin, and Conor balances business with parenting and painting and seems to have found an equilibrium that works for him and his brother. Marc is also a father, to five-year-old Fleur, who he says he co-parents with “an amazing woman”. “In the past when I was asked about my life outside work, I felt very sad,” he laughs self-mockingly, “but not any more because I have the most beautiful little girl in my life. I take her half the time and when we’re together, we play, we have fun, we get down on the ground and do kids’ stuff.” He adds that having a child has had an enormous impact on his motivation to succeed in business, but it’s also encouraged a lifestyle reset. “When we opened Orwell Road and Row Wine Bar, I was there day and night cleaning toilets and doing whatever needed to be done. I’m doing the same at Coppinger now, but beyond that, I won’t let work stop me from leaving at a reasonable hour any more.” For the next couple of months, though, the success of Coppinger is the main focus for both men.
They regard the restaurant scene in Dublin as stellar and their favourite pastime is eating out, sampling the food and atmosphere of their competitors. “This is an immersive business,” says Conor. “You have to live it and we do.” They graciously namecheck some of their favourite eateries, from Mamó in Howth to Kicky’s on South George’s Street. “Dan and I went for lunch there the other day. I was looking to tear it apart, but there was nothing I could criticise,” says Marc, laughing. “Allta is absolutely brilliant too,” says Conor. They both wax lyrical about Dublin’s Asian food scene. “Boss Stop is a lovely little place,” continues Marc. “The quality of food there is amazing.”
After the frenzy of opening Coppinger calms down, in September Conor plans to retreat to his studio and return to creating a body of work, while Marc’s focus will be on consolidating the businesses they have and “running things better”. “We’ve been preoccupied with openings over the past couple of years, but I want to concentrate on what we have rather than looking to the next big thing. For now we’ve got enough on our plates.” Pun intended.
