Paulines Pens

@Lotts wrote:

What exactly is being proposed by savebewleys – The web site seems very aspirational but has no real proposal behind it. What is the plan that you want public support for? Is it that the national government povide a grant to subsidise this cafe (or all cafes in the area?) City council to do same? Or a grant to maintain the building? Building to be owned by City Council and leased out to higest bidding franchisee? Civic museum to relocate (with coffeee shop?). Reassess what aspects of it should be on protected buildings list ?

Is the campain just a load of people saying that they wished Bewleys didn’t close (ala all are in favour of motherhood) or is there something I’m missing.

I don’t feel there is a need to go down the road of expressing my views on the importance of Bewleys to the Grafton Street area or indeed to Dublin in general. The architectural merit of the interiors and it’s place in the recent history of Dublin are far too important to be lost in the general economic turnover of the high street.
BUT…
I must say I agree to a with “Lotts” here. Its disappointing to see an open-ended petition web site where a negative is expressed but no positive proposed. I’m not a fan of this type of discussion, its non-progressive and lends itself to wallowing in sentimentality and some sort of longing for “better times” e.t.c, e.t.c. I would like to sign a petition that proposes practical moves to maintain the integrity of Bewleys, with public backing, in some innovative way so as it’s historical importance e.t.c can be appreciated. If Bewleys (the cafe business itself not the building) cannot exist as a economic entity (as it doesn’t seem to be able to) lets not turn it into a state sponsored theme park. There is an opportunity here to make a proposal which could act as a precedent for the enevitability of further Dublin landmarks coming under the reality of modern economics. I would be a bit worried that a petition like this might not be taken as seriously as it should be and may just be remembered as some sort of architectural historian’s “Diana” moment.

Having been involved with this competition I must express my most extreme disappointment with the result. A safe elaboration on the original OPW scheme seems to have won the day. There seems to be no attempt to link the main public spaces of the scheme to the main urban public spaces of Waterford. A happy day for all car salesmen in Waterford.