Raiders set fire to pub, gardaí told

GARDAÍ are investigating reports that raiders burned down a well-known pub after robbing €50,000 in bank holiday weekend takings.

Detectives have been told that a four-man gang, one armed with a handgun, entered The Players Lounge, on the northside of Dublin, at 2am yesterday.

The pub, on Fairview Strand, is owned by John Stokes, the father of Celtic footballer Anthony Stokes. The publican has courted controversy in recent years, not least when he erected a massive banner covering his pub protesting at the visit of the British monarch.

He was subsequently told by the district court to take down the banner, measuring 60ft by 20ft.

Mr Stokes is currently facing charges of threatening a nearby publican.

In July 2010, an innocent doorman at the pub was shot in the head by a gunman, but survived.

In yesterday’s incident, staff told gardaí that a gang entered the pub at 2am and that one of them was armed. They demanded access to the safe, located in an office upstairs. They emptied it of the weekend takings, said to be €50,000. The manager was then reportedly tied up.

Two fires were started on the premises. A number of fire tenders battled for two-and-a-half hours to bring the fire under control.

Fire offices said the blaze was “dangerous” and that buildings, containing flats, adjacent to the pub, had to be evacuated. The lounge area of the pub was completely gutted.

Gardaí are now conducting an investigation into the reported robbery and arson and are gathering evidence in relation to the matter.

They are conducting inquiries in the area to see if anyone saw men acting suspiciously in the area at the time.

A spokesman said: “Investigating gardaí are appealing to any person who was in the Fairview Strand area between 2am and 3am and noticed anything suspicious to contact Clontarf Garda Station incident room, 01-6664800, the Garda Confidential Line, 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.”

Anthony Stokes was in Ireland at the weekend, playing with Celtic in the Dublin Super Cup.

He went to his father’s pub at one stage over the weekend, but was not there at the time of the blaze.

John Stokes, 54, was not in the pub at the time and is said to be distressed.

Describing himself as a “lifelong republican”, he attracted the attention of the gardaí and the courts when he erected a massive anti-royalty banner at the front of his pub in the run-up to the Queen’s visit. He complied with a court order to take it down.

Along with three other men, he was charged last month with making a demand with menaces against Shane Simpson, former leaseholder of the Castle public house, in nearby Summerhill.