An Bord Pleanála has approved a series of alterations to the well-known Ryan's pub on Dublin’s Camden Street, despite objections by locals who claim the area is being turned into “a second Temple Bar.”
The board rejected an appeal by two residents’ groups against the decision of Dublin City Council to grant planning permission for changes to Ryan’s pub which the local authority acknowledged allowed for an intensification of the use of the building as a licensed premises.
The plans by the pub’s owner, Brenda Ryan, include the conversion of the upper floors of the building into a five-bedroom residential unit.
Dublin City Council welcomed the reintroduction of a residential use for part of the building with “a generous and well laid out” unit that would provide “a high standard of accommodation.”
However, the West of Camden Residents’ Association have complained about the high concentration of large pubs that have been allowed to develop in the Camden Street area.
On the specific plans for changes to Ryan’s, opponents claimed the pub was seeking to double the footprint of the licensed premises area through a series of planning applications including ones relating to an adjoining property.
The group expressed concern that people living in nearby streets including Pleasants Street, Synge Street, Grantham Street and Heytesbury Street are bearing the brunt of a growing trend in the area of superpubs and large restaurants which bring additional noise through beer gardens and outdoor seating areas.
They claimed their residential amenities are now in conflict with the area’s “night-time economy” with additional safety concerns due to an increase in anti-social behaviour, aggressive acts and drug-dealing.
The residents pointed out that there are over 30 licensed premises in the Camden Street area.
The group claimed there should be a vibrant mix of shopping, leisure, office and residential uses on Camden Street.
“Over the last decade, Dublin City Council has allowed Camden Street to move from a diverse market street area with independent shops and various amenities available to the needs of visitors to an area increasingly focused on the night-time economy,” the group’s chairperson, James Wickham, said.
He added: “If a material change is not made in this area soon, hundreds of residences could soon become unviable family homes.”
The West of Camden Residents’ Association argued granting planning permission for the changes to Ryan’s pub contradicted the zoning of the Camden Street area as an “urban village” under the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028 which requires residents to be offered a mix of retail uses and amenities.
“This area is increasingly becoming a second Temple Bar without any of the policies for diversity that Dublin City Council has included for Temple Bar,” said Mr Wickham.
The residents claim the proposed development of a residential unit on the upper floors of Ryan’s is not compatible with the pub’s live music, queues to enter the premises and late-night opening hours.
The group also outlined how they were “continually disappointed” at the failure of the council to enforce planning conditions relating to the intensification of licensed premises along Camden Street.
Similar concerns were also voiced by the Grantham Street Residents’ Association in their appeal to An Bord Pleanála.
In response to the appeals, the family-run pub said it was seeking to ensure appropriate modernisation of the building’s primary use and denied that the application allowed for an increase in the floor area of the pub.
It also claimed it could not be expected “to solve the wider issues of Camden Street.”
An inspector with An Bord Pleanála said she did not consider the development constituted a “superpub” but agreed with the appellants that Ryan’s was expanding the pub “in a piecemeal fashion.”
However, An Bord Pleanála did not accept its own inspector’s recommendation that planning permission should be refused for a proposed external bar and food serving area and the retention of a roof which would expand the use of the pub to an external area.
The board noted the existing use of the space as an open seating area for the pub and it did not believe that covering it would seriously injure the residential amenity of properties in the area or lead to a further intensification of use or increase noise.
Subject to compliance with a number of planning conditions, the board said the provision of the residential unit on the upper floors of the public and other improvement works would be in accordance with the zoning and character of the building which is a protected structure.
The conditions include a requirement that the residential unit is for long-term use only, while noise mitigation measures must be introduced to ensure noise levels do not go above certain limits.
