Wetherspoon to begin roll-out of €50m Irish pub expansion next month

Wetherspoon already operates seven pubs in the Republic — across Dublin, Cork, and Carlow. 

British pub group JD Wetherspoon is to begin the roll-out of its €50m expansion drive in Ireland, next month, by opening a huge hotel and bar development in Dublin.

The long-awaited Keavan’s Port site, on Dublin’s Camden St, is due to open on August 16. 

It ranks as Wetherspoon’s largest single-project investment in the group’s 41-year history, costing around €33m. 

The group bought the site for €6m before spending more than €27m on its redevelopment.

The site will include pub and bar facilities as well as an 89-bedroom hotel.

Wetherspoon already operates seven pubs in the Republic — across Dublin, Cork, and Carlow. 

Further openings are planned, this year, in Galway, Limerick, and Waterford.

It currently has more than €50m invested in new sites in Dublin city centre alone. That money includes Keavan’s Port and a recent €9m building purchase located close to Temple Bar.

Earlier this month, Wetherspoon announced the €9m purchase of a building on Dublin’s Aston Quay, saying it would spend a further €4m developing it into a multi-storey pub complex. 

The group is also developing a site on Hanover Quay in the south docklands area of the capital.

“We have enjoyed great success in the Republic of Ireland and are continually on the lookout for new sites,” Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin recently said.

Mr Martin has previously said there is scope for more Wetherspoon openings in Cork, where it owns the Linen Weaver bar on Paul St in the city centre. 

He has also said Wetherspoon could, in the longer term, look at operating bar areas in Irish airport terminals; something it already does in the UK.

The company is committed to Ireland countrywide and has long-standing ambitions to have at least 30 pubs operating here in the coming years.