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Dublin City Council has refused planning permission for a hotel to be built around one of Ireland’s most famous traditional-music pubs.
Marron Estates applied to the council for permission to construct a nine-storey hotel at 77-80 North King Street, in Smithfield, Dublin 7, which includes the Cobblestone. As a protected structure, the pub would have been retained as part of the proposed development, but an outdoor area and the pub’s Backroom venue would have been demolished.
The plan proved contentious: almost 700 objections were lodged with the council; an online petition, Save the Cobblestone, gathered almost 35,000 signatures; and rallies in support of the pub were held. Objectors to the proposals include Steve Wall, a founding member of The Stunning and The Walls; the Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald; the Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett; and the Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe and TD Neasa Hourigan.
In its decision, Dublin City Council sets out four reasons why it has refused permission for the development, largely relating to its size and impact on historic structures. It says that the proposed nine-storey-over-basement development would be “overbearing and significantly out of scale and character with the prevailing architectural context” and that the hotel would amount to “substantial over-development of this highly sensitive site”, which consists of three- to four-storey historic buildings, two of which are protected structures.
“Furthermore, the proposed new four- to six-storey development over the existing structures would completely overwhelm the protected structures and would cause serious injury to their amenity, architectural significance, legibility, special architectural character and setting.”
The nine-story development would also appear “unduly dominant in the streetscape and visually incongruous”. The local authority adds that the demolition would “represent an unacceptable loss of historic fabric and would cause serious injury to the setting of the protected structures”. “Furthermore, it is the opinion of the planning authority that the proposed development would not make a positive contribution to the urban character of the area.”
Dublin City Council adds that the proposal would be “contrary to development plan provisions in respect of culture in the city, due to the removal of a space which has been used for teaching, rehearsal and performance for traditional music ... and which is considered to make an important contribution to the cultural offering in the area”. Its demolition would therefore “set an undesirable precedent in this regard” and be contrary to “the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.
A report lodged on behalf of Marron Estates by the McCutcheon Halley planning consultancy said the scheme had been designed to respond sensitively to the existing protected structures and would incorporate and adapt the buildings for new use.