Wetherspoon to create 300 jobs with new Dublin hotel and pub

Wetherspoon is to start development work on its new pub and hotel in Dublin city centre on Tuesday 8 May.

The pub and 92 room hotel is set to open in the summer of 2019 – with the creation of 300 jobs.

The project to convert a row of derelict properties in Camden Street Upper and Camden Street Lower will cost €18.5m. A number of original features of the derelict buildings will be retained and restored, this includes the circular stained glass window which was crafted by Earley and Company (church decorators, stained glass manufacturers and stone carvers), who were based at the site.

The window on the façade of 5 Upper Camden Street is considered to be the work of John Earley – son of the founder of the company.

Earley and Company became one of the largest and most prestigious ecclesiastical decorators both in Ireland and the UK, providing a high standard of ecclesiastical art. The studios closed in 1975 having been by the Earley family for more than a century.

Part of the terrace was also a convent of the Little Sisters of Assumption – from 1890 until the 1940s. Their former chapel will also be preserved and form part of the new pub and hotel. Bespoke and reclaimed furniture, as well as reclaimed stonework and decorative windows will be incorporated within the design.

The pub and hotel will be called Keavan’s Port Hotel as a series of historic maps and records dating back to 1673, shows that the original name of Camden Street Upper and Lower is Keavans Port.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “We are looking forward to developing the site into a fantastic pub and hotel. It will be the biggest single investment undertaken by Wetherspoon and will result in our largest hotel alongside a superb pub.

“Our pubs in the Republic of Ireland are thriving and we are confident that the pub and hotel will be a great asset to Dublin and act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in the city.”