A Temple Bar hotel is plotting a six-storey extension to nearly double its capacity
The Temple Bar Inn wants to add almost 90 more rooms.
PLANS HAVE BEEN submitted with Dublin City Council to nearly double the capacity of the Temple Bar Inn, which is located in the heart of the Irish capital’s main tourism district.
Heights Hospitality Operations Ltd has applied for planning permission to build a six-storey extension onto the existing hotel on Fleet Street.
The hotel, which opened its doors in 2014, currently has 101 bedrooms, however the new development would increase its footprint to 190 rooms.
The additional storeys would be built on top of a pre-existing level on the ground floor and located behind the current hotel, according to the submission.
The new development will also include the creation of an open-air courtyard between the existing hotel and the new structure, a viewing terrace and the installation of a plant-covered roof.
The planning application also noted that some internal alterations to the existing structure are necessary on the first four floors.
Until earlier this year, the Temple Bar Inn was the only hotel in Temple Bar that didn’t serve alcohol.
However, in May it was granted a hotel and bar license and it was proposed that the new bar would be located in the basement of the building.
A room in the Temple Bar Inn.
The plans for the new hotel development were submitted by planning consultancy firm Tom Philips & Associates, which was behind other projects such as the new passport office on Molesworth Street and the Aviva Stadium.
The most recently filed accounts for Heights Hospitality Operations Limited showed that it made a profit of over €870,000 in the year that ended 31 December 2015.
The firm’s directors are listed as Thomas Doyle, Dan Mircea Dumitrescu and David Reuter.
Hotel shortage
A number of hotel developments are in the works in Dublin at the moment, with more than 3,000 new rooms to come on stream in the Irish capital by the end of 2019.
A study commissioned by Fáilte Ireland has shown that Dublin is suffering from a shortage of available hotel accomodation, which has stifled growth in the capital’s tourism sector.
Earlier this year, the state body also wrote a letter to Dublin council urging it to grant planning permission to a new hotel development on the Andrews Lane Theatre site.
It highlighted that Dublin was experiencing an “unprecedented hotel occupancy rate” and that the development would help address the shortage of accommodation.
