Bewleys campaigners demand establishment of National Trust

The group campaigning to save Bewleys cafes has called on the Government to establish a National Trust to protect historic landmarks.

The Save Bewleys Campaign said it had gathered 21,000 signatures in support of a Dublin City Council motion designed to save the cafés in Grafton Street and Westmoreland Street from closure.

The motion is due to come before the council on Monday.

The owners of Bewleys are planning to close the two cafés due to mounting losses in recent years, but campaigner Damien Cassidy said a National Trust could prevent the move.

"This kind of institution has been serving Dublin for more than 100 years and it's just disappearing from the skyline for economic reasons," he said.

"The Crown Bar in Belfast - it had economic reasons [for closure] and yet it's still open and it is still surviving because of the interest of the National Trust [in Northern Ireland]."