Bewley's in cafe talks for Grafton Street

Bewley's is in negotiations with a leading restaurant and pub chain about the possibility of establishing a wine bar café at its Grafton Street outlet in Dublin.

The Campbell Bewley Group is understood to be at an advanced stage of talks with restaurant and pub owners Mr Jay Bourke and Mr Eoin Foyle about jointly operating a redeveloped café at the landmark site.

Mr Bourke and Mr Foyle own the successful Café Bar Deli restaurant chain, which began with the redevelopment of the old Bewley's on George's Street. Their other interests include the Odessa restaurant and Rí Rá nightclub in Dublin, and the Bogeda bar and Savoy nightclub in Cork.

A sticking point in talks is said to be Bewley's insistence on a front-of-house retail store in the proposed new café.

There is also a question over whether the new café would cover more than the ground floor of the 16,000 sq ft building, leaving the basement and upper storeys free for retail space.

Bewley's is also talking to other restaurant and pub owners about entering into a strategic agreement on the future of Number 78 Grafton Street.

However, one source close to the negotiations remarked, "Jay Bourke is in pole position".

Bewley's has signalled its intention to make a decision before the end of the month on whether to redevelop the café in a joint venture or to sell its €768,200-a-year lease on the premises.

The company may opt to put the lease - which has several years to run - on the open market rather than sell it to back to Treasury Holdings, the owners of the Grafton Street site.

Bewley's and Treasury are currently in dispute over the ownership of the Harry Clarke stained-glass windows which were installed at the café by the Bewley family in 1927.

One company which has dropped out of talks over the site is Java Republic whose managing director, Mr David McKernan, told The Irish Times: "It's just not right for us at the moment".

Mr McKernan, who spent 12 years as sales and marketing manager of Bewley's before setting up Java in 1999, said he had put together a "very serious" bid with a restaurant company to take over the running of the café.

"For us, at this point in time we are better off supporting our wholesale trade," he said.

"I am a competitor to Bewley's but I love what Bewley's does. They must retain it in some form for tourism. It's vital to Ireland. It's as vital as Ryanair. Grafton Street will become a cold, dark, dank place without it."

In a separate development, campaigners against the closure of the café are this week meeting Treasury Holdings, the owners of the Grafton Street site, to seek assurances about its future.

The Bewley's Oriental Saved Cafés Alliance (BOSCA) hopes to persuade Treasury to freeze or reduce the rent on the premises so that Bewley's, or an alternative café, can reopen there.

Meanwhile, Dublin City Council is next week to discuss a proposal to amend its city development plan to protect the usage of the Grafton Street premises as a café.