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Irish Independent

Landmark northside Dublin pub offers potential for growth

Owned and operated by the O'Connell family since 1989, the pub is probably best known by older local people for its connections to one of Dublin's most famous and colourful publicans, Paddy Belton, also a Fine Gael TD and lord mayor, who at one time owned 17 Dublin pubs, then the largest chain in the city. According to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, on the opening night of his first pub in 1956 he met his future wife Elizabeth, a flight attendant. He subsequently went on to give many of his northside pubs names associated with aviation, including The Viscount and The Concorde in Raheny, as well as The Comet and The Pilot. A feature of the Viscount has been the aviation-related memorabilia adorning its shelves and it dispensed a popular novelty cocktail called Aviation. In the 1960s, as Dublin expanded, Mr Belton built or bought and renovated pubs located near new suburban housing estates, benefiting from regulations which prohibited other pubs within a one-mile radius. He met a demand for lounge bars with their cushioned banquette seating, differing from the bare stools and chairs of traditional pubs. He is said to have employed over 300 workers and his empire further encompassed several newsagents, a supermarket, a shopping arcade and a small building outfit, as well as interests in property, wine shops, drink distributors, The Central Hotel and the Murphy's brewery. He had pieced together a site for a shopping arcade off Dublin's Moore Street when the mid-1970s recession almost bankrupted him. During 1976 and 1977 he kept afloat by selling personal assets, three pubs and commercial sites. The Viscount is positioned on the busy Swords Road and across the road from the Hartfield Place development site where 472 apartments are underway. The premises extends to two floors over a basement. Its 214 sq m ground floor accommodates both a public bar and lounge bar as well as a manager's office and toilets. The 207.5 sq m first floor is occupied under a licence by Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant. A basement extends to 74.6 sq m and includes storage and a cool room. Externally, the property enjoys six off-street car-parking spaces partly held under an occupational lease and partly used as external patio seating with scope to expand. 'The Viscount presents significant business development potential due to the large-scale residential development nearby," said Shane Markey, who is handling the sale.