Irish Yeast Co building owner warned over dereliction as 'cafe/bar' conversion gets green light

The derelict Irish Yeast Company building on College Street is set to become a “cafe/bar and reception area” and three apartments, after An Bord Pleanála overruled Dublin City Council’s concerns that the plan would “irreversibly” damage the historic premises.

Granting permission for the conversion, the planning board’s inspector described the Victorian shopfront, which will be retained, as “iconic” and noted that before it closed in the mid-2010s, the Irish Yeast Company was one of the oldest surviving businesses in the city.

It is in a state of severe disrepair and it has recently been badly vandalised with graffiti, despite being listed on Dublin’s Register of Protected Structures.

The council told The Journal this week that it holds an open “Buildings at Risk” file on the four-storey-over-basement, late Georgian building and has been “in extensive correspondence with the current owner and their conservation team in respect of the condition of the structure” since it was bought in 2018.

The building in 2018 with a ‘sale agreed’ sign.

The council added that its conservation department “has been trying to engage with the owner’s team for the careful removal of the graffiti from the historic shopfront”.

On 31 January, An Bord Pleanála granted permission for the ground floor of 6 College Street, which housed the Moreland family’s yeast shop for over 100 years, to be converted to a “cafe/bar and reception area”.

The three floors above – where the last owner of the Irish Yeast Company, John Moreland, lived – will be converted to three one-bedroom apartments for residential accommodation. A “glazed atrium” to the rear will link the building with 31 Fleet Street (which houses Bowe’s pub) and provide fire escapes for both buildings.

The application was made by the owner of 6 College Street, Capital Estate Management, a real estate company which Companies Registration Office files indicate also owns the Times Hostel on the same block. Declan Doyle, owner of Bowe’s Pub, gave permission for the work pertaining to his building on Fleet Street.

The door of the building has been vandalised with graffiti.

The planning permission also commits the owner to conservation work including reinstating the original cabinetry and panelling. The current owners dismantled the historic shop cabinetry without permission when they took the building over, according to the Council’s planning file.

The “iconic Irish Yeast Company” shopfront will be retained and its carved timber will be repaired, planning documents state.

Structural repair work to the basement “to save the ground floor structure” is also planned. The brickwork on the front facade will be stabilised, cleaned and repaired, while quoins (decorative cornerstones) and historic paintwork will be reinstated.

Dublin City Council had refused permission for the plans last year, stating that they would have an “irreversibly detrimental and seriously injurious impact on the historic fabric, integrity and architectural character of this rare and important former shop and residence”.

The Council also worried about the precedent that granting this permission would set.

The appeal to An Bord Pleanála argued that the Irish Yeast Company building was underused and in need of intervention to safeguard its future, adding that it was the Council’s stated policy to support listed buildings’ regeneration.

It said that planning rules meant that over the past two years it was unable to carry out work on the building, which continued to fall into further disrepair.

An Bord Pleanála’s inspector noted that both the owner and the Council acknowledged 6 College Street to be “a very important historic building”.

The inspector said the plans for restoring the building were a “welcome, timely and acceptable”, adding that “a balance needs to be struck between its reuse and conservation objectives”.

“There is a need for the planning process to turn emptiness into homes and businesses and for balanced, reasonable regeneration and renewal of vacant and derelict buildings, especially protected and historic buildings for the common good,” the inspector said.

The Council had previously refused permission for an earlier version of this plan in 2021 which involved knocking through more party walls.

In 2019 it refused permission to extend Bowe’s pub into the Irish Yeast Company building’s ground floor, and to extend the Times Hostel into the upper storeys.

An attempt was made to contact the directors of Capital Estate Management for comment.