The owners of the well-known Dublin city pub, The Temple Bar, have expanded their already-extensive interests with the purchase of the adjacent Temple Bar Lane hotel.
Temple Inns Ltd, the company headed up by publicans Tom and Jackie Cleary, is understood to have paid slightly more than the €11 million price Irish real estate and development group MM Capital had been seeking when they offered the property for sale through Dan O’Connor of JLL last February. The Clearys were represented in the transaction by Shane Markey of Lisney.
Having acquired the then 171-bed Barnacles Hostel from the MHL Hotel Collection for €8 million 2018, MM Capital went on to refurbish and reposition it as a 36-key boutique hotel. The property offers its new owners further development potential within its existing envelope, with immediate scope for the addition of eight guest rooms. The sale also included a ground-floor cafe unit on Cecilia Street (tenant not affected).
The Irish Times understands the Clearys have plans to expand the Temple Bar Lane’s current offering through upgrades to the property and the creation of synergies with their existing properties and businesses in the wider Temple Bar area.
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Quite apart from their operation of The Temple Bar, they are set to open a premium whiskey experience in the adjoining former North Face unit between the pub and their new hotel acquisition. The new whiskey shop will showcase Irish whiskies from all the recently created Irish distilleries.
It will also house one of Ireland’s largest whiskey collections amassed by the family over several decades. Temple Inns Ltd also operates the Roast Bar & Restaurant, The Temple Bar Trading Company and Cloud Nine Ice Cream within the immediate area.
