SOME OF Dublin’s most renowned pubs have been bolted and shuttered up because of the fall off in business.

The once-famous Searson’s of Baggot Street was one such casualty – it’s been closed since last November – but it is to reopen for business shortly under the management of well known publican Charlie Chawke.

Searson’s, once a favourite venue for rugby fans after international matches at the old Lansdowne Road, is still owned by the Hardy family but was run for many years by the Guinness subsidiary, Murtagh Properties.

Hugh O’Regan’s Thomas Reid Group later took on a sub-lease and ran the business until the group ended up in receivership. Even the receiver had a shot at running Searson’s through a manager but that folded in the run up to last Christmas.

Enter Charlie Chawke, close buddy of Bertie Ahern and former Sunderland shareholder, who runs several successful pubs including The Goat Inn in Goatstown, the Dropping Well in Milltown and The Bank in Dame Street. Though it’s one of the few pubs on the upper end of Baggot St, Searson’s will compete with former honest-to-god watering hole The Waterloo, a couple of doors down, which has been reinvented as a gastropub.

The latest letting was negotiated by Stephen Murray of Jones Lang LaSalle, who has been sworn to secrecy on the rent involved. However, other experts are speculating that the rent will probably be staggered, rising to around €3,000 to €4,000 a week.

Alternatively, the new tenant may have settled for around 10 per cent of turnover. Whatever the deal, passers-by on this end of Baggot St, usually on their way to a match, can finally slake their thirst again.