After 249 years, tracts of the brewery are to be sold to developers, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor.
THE SIGHTS, sounds and smells of the Guinness brewery at St James's Gate in Dublin have been part and parcel of the Liberties for nearly 250 years - ever since Arthur Guinness himself first secured a 9,000-year lease on four acres of ground in 1759 for an annual rent of £45, including water rights.
The brewery has expanded substantially since then and now occupies 64 acres on either side of Thomas Street, stretching down to Victoria Quay on the River Liffey. It was from here that the Guinness barges transported kegs of stout downriver to the Lady Patricia and Lady Gwendolyn, moored at City Quay.
The vast brewery has its own theatre and swimming pool, as well as the tracks of a narrow-gauge railway that once served the site. It still has its own power station to fuel the production of over 50 million barrels (nearly 83 million hectolitres) of beer - including Guinness Extra Stout, proudly brewed at "James's Gate Dublin".
At one stage, the brewery employed as many as 4,000 people and, although the number has fallen to a fraction with the onset of automation, Guinness remains the largest employer in the Liberties - but that's now likely to change.
The inner city lost Jacob's biscuit factory, the Powers and Jameson distilleries and many other traditional industries, and now St James's Gate is to be "consolidated", with a new brewery to be built on a greenfield site.
Powers and Jameson went to Middleton, Co Cork, and a replacement distillery that resembles a chemical plant.
A new "state-of-the-art" brewhouse is to be developed at St James's Gate, and much of the rest of the site will be sold off. But the visitor centre will stay. This nine-storey Chicago-style warehouse was converted into the Guinness Storehouse in 2000 and, drawn by the Gravity Bar, tourists have flocked to it in huge numbers. Even by 2004, the storehouse had welcomed two million visitors and it is it now "Ireland's No 1 visitor attraction", as Diageo notes.
The Gravity Bar, with its panoramic views over the city, has also hosted numerous functions, including the 30th birthday party of Rory Guinness, younger brother of the current earl of Iveagh.
The storehouse is a protected structure, listed in the Dublin City Development Plan, as are several other buildings in the brewery, particularly along Thomas Street. Whatever development takes place on the site, these buildings will have to be retained - though many would be suitable for conversion into loft-style apartments.
Even if only half the site is sold, it would be one of the largest areas to come up for redevelopment in recent years. Its long frontage on Victoria Quay is a largely blank wall, protecting a huge marshalling yard for beer trucks. This could be a prime development site, particularly because of its proximity to Heuston station, Dublin's main transport hub.
Coincidentally, the Harp brewery in Dundalk (also known as the Great Northern Brewery) is located right next to the town's railway station on the Dublin-Belfast main line. The Smithwick's brewery in Kilkenny also occupies a town centre site between Parliament Street and the River Nore, and includes the ruins of a Franciscan friary.
Because of the sheer scale of the Guinness site in Dublin, it is clear that a detailed local area plan would have to be prepared by the city council's planners before any development gets under way.
This would be on the scale of a city quarter, which will hopefully retain such amenities as the swimming pool and Rupert Guinness Theatre.
Any planning scheme would also have to take account of Iarnród Éireann's proposed underground rail link between Heuston station and Spencer Dock, as it would traverse the site on its way to High Street, St Stephen's Green and Westland Row, before crossing beneath the Liffey to Spencer Dock.