Burger King Lower Baggot St gone

athtrasna

Saw at the weekend that BK on Lower Baggot Street had closed as their lease expired. It's a big loss to the area as it's the biggest fast food "restaurant" around the Merrion Square/Baggot St area.

There's one on Upper Baggot Street but it's tiny, as are Abrakebabra and Eddie Rockets. In an area with lots of offices and language schools it was always busy.

Anyone hear anything about the Lower Baggot St premises? Never thought I'd be lamenting the loss of a BK but it was a handy once a week treat at a location that worked for a group of us for our weekly catch up.

Phenomenally Phrank

Used to frequent that place, but it attracted a fair amount of junkies and dodgy types which put me off going in the end. Wonder what's going to be there now.

cson

Wow, never thought I'd hear someone describing a Burger King as being a being loss to the area :eek:

Degsy

The one at the parnel st end of o'connell st is closed too,although i think its only for refurbishments.

TheVoodoo

I personally wont miss it at all, but if they can't relocate the staff, it's a shame about the job losses etc!

Health wise, it's probably a good thing it's gone.

Dodge

Sign on the window mentioned it was the end of the lease. Presume it wasn't viable anymore.

thirtythirty

Oooh I hope McDonald's takes that spot!

I'd also settle for Zaytoon.

athtrasna

athtrasna wrote: »

Never thought I'd be lamenting the loss of a BK but it was a handy once a week treat at a location that worked for a group of us for our weekly catch up.

cson wrote: »

Wow, never thought I'd hear someone describing a Burger King as being a being loss to the area :eek:

I didn't either but it was a handy casual place for the four of us to catch up for a cheap lunch most weeks, somewhere we were never rushed out of. There isn't that much indoor space anywhere else around at under €10 a head.

patwicklow

It might be replaced with a German take away, German Sausage with Curry Catchup

athtrasna

The plot thickens...the restaurant has closed "due to the fact that the lease was not renewable"....wonder what's going in there?

SHOVELLER

No loss.

That stretch of pavement is a pain for pedestrians. The flower sellers have their wares strewn everywhere and the food place next door has a huge sign blocking the pavement.

silverharp

lol, there are such a shortage of fast food joints in the city.

starviewadams

Was handy for some food after a match,not many other cheap food options around that area.

athtrasna

silverharp wrote: »

lol, there are such a shortage of fast food joints in the city.

There actually is in that area - it's office and language school central. That BK could seat maybe 80+ people, Abrakebabra more like 20. The other BK maybe 30 - and they were all busy every lunchtime.

Yes it's only 10 mins further up the street to Grafton Street but a - that takes 20 mins out of precious lunchtime, and b - the Grafton Street fast food outlets are always jammers 12-2.

liffeylite

No doubt its a great location for a fast food place. But it sounds like the owners of the building didnt want to renew the lease, so they are probably either selling or have a change of use lined up.

Sofa King Great

athtrasna wrote: »

There actually is in that area - it's office and language school central. That BK could seat maybe 80+ people, Abrakebabra more like 20. The other BK maybe 30 - and they were all busy every lunchtime.

Yes it's only 10 mins further up the street to Grafton Street but a - that takes 20 mins out of precious lunchtime, and b - the Grafton Street fast food outlets are always jammers 12-2.

So it was quiet at lunch time and always plenty of space and yet you wonder why it has closed?

All the same, it is a shame that it is gone. It was always handy when you needed a quick feed between a load of pints in doheny & nesbitts.

athtrasna

Sofa King Great wrote: »

So it was quiet at lunch time and always plenty of space and yet you wonder why it has closed?

All the same, it is a shame that it is gone. It was always handy when you needed a quick feed between a load of pints in doheny & nesbitts.

No I said they were all busy at lunchtime. BK was busy but not packed, it would be rare that you would struggle to get a table but about 50% of their lunchtime business was take away. There was plenty of space because there were gaps between the tables that weren't claustrophobically tightly packed.

Have seen an email which said they only closed because they could not renew their lease. Wonder what's going in there now.

irlirishkev

spottyelephant wrote: »

Oooh I hope McDonald's takes that spot!

I'd also settle for Zaytoon.

Well let's see.. there's a Spar about a 30second walk down the road.. so at a guess, I'd say a Spar will go in.

Fizzlesque

I'll miss it on the days I'm hungover in work (which are less and less these penniless days) - though I'd always have preferred a McDonalds to chase away my hangover hunger, Burger King always hit the spot sufficiently.

I don't know what's going in there now, but a long time ago (pre-recession long ago) I heard the hotel at the back (thinks it's the Merrion Hotel) owned that building (and the little one beside it and the offices above) and were planning on doing something with the space. This could be totally untrue, I can't even remember who told me that, it was that long ago, but maybe...

Pretty Polly

Degsy wrote: »

The one at the parnel st end of o'connell st is closed too,although i think its only for refurbishments.

Yeah they are just doing refurbishments. Hope they do the toilets while they are at it....seriously dodgy.

compsys

I'm sorry, but Dublin city centre has more than enough fast food restaurants so I'm delighted to hear that's it's closed to be honest. Let's hope something half interesting opens up.

There's plenty more fast food restaurants in and around the Grafton Street area and also on Upper Baggot Street. I'm sure people can walk the 400 metres there... then again :rolleyes:

athtrasna

compsys wrote: »

There's plenty more fast food restaurants in and around the Grafton Street area and also on Upper Baggot Street. I'm sure people can walk the 400 metres there... then again :rolleyes:

Not with seating as previously posted! I'm not lamenting the loss of their haute cuisine, rather the facility.

Seems it is the hotel expanding, was speaking to someone at the weekend who actually read the planning permission notice in the window when it was there.

compsys

athtrasna wrote: »

Not with seating as previously posted! I'm not lamenting the loss of their haute cuisine, rather the facility.

Seems it is the hotel expanding, was speaking to someone at the weekend who actually read the planning permission notice in the window when it was there.

What hotel is close to there that's expanding?

Dodge

The Merrion

[Jackass]

athtrasna wrote: »

There's one on Upper Baggot Street but it's tiny

I haven't eaten burger king in about 4 years since I got an absolutely horrendous bout of food poisoning from that one. :mad::( but still eat McDonalds etc., so hope one of them goes in there!

true

Dodge wrote: »

Sign on the window mentioned it was the end of the lease. Presume it wasn't viable anymore.

I believe a lot of restaurants are struggling to break even after paying their wages, rates, electricity, advertising, insurance, overheads etc.

athtrasna

true wrote: »

I believe a lot of restaurants are struggling to break even after paying their wages, rates, electricity, advertising, insurance, overheads etc.

Not the case with this restaurant. According to their head office they wanted to renew the lease but it was not an option with their landlord.

ballooba

Mystery solved...

Fizzlesque wrote: »

I'll miss it on the days I'm hungover in work (which are less and less these penniless days) - though I'd always have preferred a McDonalds to chase away my hangover hunger, Burger King always hit the spot sufficiently.

I don't know what's going in there now, but a long time ago (pre-recession long ago) I heard the hotel at the back (thinks it's the Merrion Hotel) owned that building (and the little one beside it and the offices above) and were planning on doing something with the space. This could be totally untrue, I can't even remember who told me that, it was that long ago, but maybe...

.... you hit the nail on the head.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/transport-and-tourism/big-expansion-of-five-star-merrion-hotel-planned-1.1487598

enda1

Maybe a super(quinn)valu?
That'd be handy.

Marcusm

The building will become an extension of the Merrion Hotel with suitably appropriate retail at ground level.

PaulieC

Marcusm wrote: »

The building will become an extension of the Merrion Hotel with suitably appropriate retail at ground level.

Great. Another Insomnia shop, just what is needed :rolleyes: