Landmark Dublin cafes will close
The owners of Bewley’s Oriental Cafes, Ireland’s famous tea and coffee shops have announced that two of their landmark Dublin cafes are to close.
The owners, coffee and tea suppliers, blame running costs, the “coffee to go” culture and the public smoking ban.
The Westmoreland Street shop has been in business since 1896, while the Grafton Street premises, with three floors decorated with stained-glass windows, opened in 1927.
He described the decision to close as “a very emotional event, like a death in the family – it’s like a part of Dublin dying.”
A Bewley’s spokeswoman said Ireland’s public smoking ban had also contributed, especially as a request for outside seating was rejected.
“People who used to come in for a coffee and a cigarette don’t do that now,” she told BBC News Online.
Source: BBC News. Link
