corner of Townsend Street and Lombard Street?

There was an old pub there afaik…..

It is interesting that this should be brought up. I had noticed this corner building a few months ago (around the time of the International Rules game). All that really remained was a very old shop front which seemed to be made of concrete. I wanted to get a photo, but when I came back to do so a few weeks later it had been demolished.

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

There was an old pub there afaik…..

It was called Donovans and was a great old boozer. Much easier to hide in there for a long lunch than say O’Neils. I remember jammed into the corner there watching Ireland against Iran. I think the Planning was for the old inevitable apartments.

Yes I’ve notices this as well. There was nothing spectacular about the building but it was a nice facade and I am surprised they didnt retain it. This site seems to be waiting for the chipper to move out. Further up Townsend St are two new office developments either side of the street. There’s is lots of derelict land and unsatisfactory landuse arund this area. Good to see it getting a boost

@burge_eye wrote:

It was called Donovans and was a great old boozer. Much easier to hide in there for a long lunch than say O’Neils. I remember jammed into the corner there watching Ireland against Iran. I think the Planning was for the old inevitable apartments.

I think I maybe got the wrong corner

yeah wrong corner, the one i’m thinking of looks like it was closed for 30 years….

it was a three story red brick, with very decorative detail,
“importers of fine wines” was printed above the windows, on a grey granite imitation type banner
It was sucessfully knocked around 2 months ago.
It was derilict and rundown but by no means beyond retrieve.

thats the one….

I was sad about this, I walk by it alot on there was originally a planning application to save the ground floor facade, then nothing happened and then there was an application for apartments over retail and it was demolished. I was mostly suprised that more effort wasn’t made to collect a bigger lot.

It was odd the way they knocked it – the facade seemed to be being retained and then that was knocked too. As if they had a change of mind. Nice old building – I was quite fond of it.

Here’s what it looked like:

Thanks as always to the wonderful fantasy jack

Has anyone any images of the planned replacement? It would want to be good. These little gems are still disappearing across Dublin (next will be swenys no doubt).

Next time you’re passing -if you get depressed thinking that it should have been restored, take a look at the stained glass of the windjammer (in yellow at righthand side of image). It’s very simple stained glass of a bottle of stout or wine. Always gives me a smile 😉

is the seashell (the chipper) gone aswell?

No, just the corner.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was under the impression that since the early 90’s there were now penalties in place to prevent the speculator-driven dereliction that was such a blight in Dublin during the 1980’s? Is this so – or is the Underwoods Vs Cty Council Henrietta St CPO court case having unforeseen knock-on effects?

From looking around the wider city, I doubt it, but it is an interesting concept. The dereliction of older buildings is one of the most powerful tools used by developers in getting a place ‘rejuvenated’.

What a pity – passed this not too long ago too and wondered about it. Unlike many such scrappy older derelict buildings, this was of good quality with the shopfront and cornerstones being particularly eye-catching. The stock brick was also very elegant.
It was not a building that was just ‘left-over’, it was self-contained, able to stand on its own feet with the cornerstones on both sides, cornice on top, and a proportioned facade – it could easily have integrrated into any well-designed scheme.
I remember the wine sign now that you mention it ConK 🙁

Another picture:

It was probably a lovely bar at one time – as the exterior is classic corner bar – see the old corner entrance

Yes. The pubfront had a strange rough coat of cement on it. It looked like it had been dipped in cement. Very strange.

And here it is today (well yesterday actually).

What a shame.
The Countess is no doubt the next to be demolished and then just think what a pitiful sight the seashell will make.

I suppose this will be an ugly vacant site until that consolidation happens. The advertising hording looks like it’s there for the long haul.

Do you think Kwik Fit are being put under pressure (financial incentives etc) to move aswell?