Planning permission for another hotel and "licensed restaurant" at the historic Merchant's Arch has been lodged with Dublin City Council.
A major protest kicked off after plans to build a three storey "boutique" restaurant and hotel on the other side of the laneway were approved by An Bord Pleanala. Under the plans, four independent shops will be demolished at the Temple Bar end of the laneway that runs from the Ha'penny Bridge into the main square of Temple Bar.
The new plans lodged earlier this month seek permission to turn shoe shop China Blue on Wellington Quay into a "licensed restaurant" and eight bedroom hotel.
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China Blue, which has been operating at Merchant's Arch for 35 years, runs along the laneway and has an entrance on Wellington Quay. If approved, there could be two hotels either side of the historic arch.
The Temple Bar Residents Association have objected to the application saying the area is already "awash" with pubs and restaurants and added "nobody could credibly argue that it needs yet another one". The Merchant's Arch pub is already in operation across the laneway from the shoe shop.
Owner of China Blue Sean O'Connor told Dublin Live he is retiring and plans to sell the premises onto "another restaurant". He said: "We are closing our business here. It'll close some time before Christmas."
He added: "No, [I won't be running the restaurant] I'll be retiring. I'm 62. I've been in this arch for 35 years."
Mr O'Connor first opened his shoe shop two doors down the laneway from his current premises in September 1987. Ten years later he moved into the current space which has a front door onto Wellington Quay.
One constant in both shops was the range of Doc Martens on offer which were all the rage among teenagers in the 1980s and 1990s. Sean said: "We always done a big range of Doc Martens so we are well known for Doc Martens here."
The businessman enjoyed his time in Merchants' Hall, as the laneway is also known, but added it took up a lot of his time and eventually became too much. "By and large, I have enjoyed it. When you are running your own business you have to spend a lot of time at it if you want to be around for that length of time.
"It is pretty much a six day a week job with very long hours."
He added: "You reach a point where you don't want to spend that much time anymore and I have probably hit that point now so I decided it is a good time to retire.
On the changes Temple Bar has seen over the years, Sean said: "It probably more difficult to see it if you have been here all the time. If you were away for a while and you came back, you could probably see it more.
"There are probably less shops around than there used to be. When I started out there were certainly more shops around. Now it is more restaurants, cafes and bars. That is the way Temple Bar has developed and I suppose that's the way people wanted it to develop.
"It is probably more of a night time area now. There are less shoppers around and less footfall around but that has been happening over a long period of time.
Mr O'Connor added that older people tend to not come through the Arch anymore due to the "bad rep" the area has. He said: "I think once you get to a certain age, maybe from 40 onwards, people tend to not come into town as much. Maybe that is because of all the bad press but a lot of that bad press is deserved. It is more a night time area now and that is just the way the area has developed.
When asked who he was going to sell the restaurant to, he said: "I am not sure. It is probably going to be a restaurant. It could be [another restaurant owner]. I am not prepared to say at this point.
"I am not sure, it is probably going to be a restaurant."
Chair of the Temple Bar Residents and former environment editor with the Irish Times, Frank McDonald, objected to the plans on behalf of the residents' association. He wrote: "The planning authority will be well aware that the Temple Bar area is awash with licensed premises, whether pubs or restaurants, and nobody could credibly argue that it needs yet another one."
The objection cited a survey which found the number of restaurants, cafés and takeaway units in the area "had mushroomed from 11 in 1984 to 85 in 2019 - an increase of more than 770%".
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