THE owners of the Dublin licensed premises, O'Dwyer Brothers, Lower Mount Street, were restrained by High Court order yesterday from carrying out unauthorised development at the pub.
Mr Justice Kelly said he found the approach of the owners to legal proceedings brought against them by Dublin Corporation, the planning authority, to "be undeserving of much sympathy from this court".
In a reserved judgment, the judge said it was alleged the owners removed part of the original frontage and replaced it with a large plastic gargoyle with lettering "Howl at the Moon" and two pairs of doors leading to a basement nightclub. There were also objections to a number of large signs and exterior lighting.
He said the unauthorised developments had been carried out with a view to enhancing the commercial development of the premises and the profit which it made for its owners.
Notwithstanding these clear breaches of the Planning Acts, he had been asked to permit the owners to continue to profit from its wrongdoing by placing a stay on his injunction so as to enable the owners to start another procedure with a view to regularising the position.
The owners had already, in effect, obtained a stay on any action against it since December, 1995, when they were first notified by the corporation of complaints about the development.