Yahoo Finance Inside JD Wetherspoon's new €33m Dublin hotel — its biggest ever investment
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon (JDW.L) is poised to open a new hotel in Dublin, Ireland, that has cost €33m to develop.
Keavan’s Port, an 89-bedroom hotel and pub, will open on Camden Street Upper and Lower on 16 August. JD Wetherspoon purchased the site for €6m (£5m, $7m) four years ago and has spent €27.4m developing it — the company's biggest ever investment in a single site.
"We are delighted to have completed the development of Keavan’s Port," chief executive John Hutson said. “We believe that the pub and hotel will be a great asset to Dublin and will hopefully act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in the city.”
The Keavan's Port hotel has been developed from eight Georgian townhouses and a chapel, with a modern extension added featuring a 12-metre-high atrium. The hotel's pub covers 9,000 square foot and features a 3,800 square foot garden. Details include bar 'snugs' meant to resemble confession cubicles.
JD Wetherspoon said it had retained several historical aspects of the buildings in the development. The properties were originally built as private residences around 1815 and more recently were used as a boxing gym.
The company said local history provided "inspiration for the bespoke designed carpets throughout the pub, reflecting a time when kilims and rugs were signs of wealth, brought back from travels or imported from exotic lands overseas."
The Keavan's Port development is part of a significant investment by JD Wetherspoon in Ireland. Earlier this month the group bought a site in Dublin's busy nightlife area Temple Bar for €9m and Wetherspoon is developing another property in Dublin's south docklands.
Earlier this year JD Wetherspoon announced plans to invest £895m ($1.2m) in upgrading and expanding its pub estate over the next decade. The company said the plans would create 22,000 jobs but were dependant on lockdown restrictions.
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