Bewley's seeks to remove name/signage from Starbucks

MadsL

WTF?? Rip out the mosaics???

And it’s even less funny to learn, as I did from his e-mail, that the company is applying to the city council for permission to take the signs down. Or up, in the case of the one set in mosaic tiles under your feet as you enter.

Readers may recall that the actual Bewley’s on this site closed several years ago. But earlier this year the premises reopened, with a Starbucks at the front and a TGI Friday’s at the back.

Which (retaining as they had to the protected facade, including signage), seemed a happy enough compromise. Except that now, Bewley’s wants to remove all traces of its name from the facade.

And all right, I can see how in these days when branding is an obsession, there may be some public confusion about what exactly the new business is. God forbid that a passing tourist might not immediately realise that the premises has become yet another step in Starbucks’ march to world domination.

I'm looking for more details, but this is sheer cultural vandalism.

ixoy

Surely the title is mis-informative? Starbucks aren't looking to rip the name out - it's Bewleys themselves. From the RTE site URL="http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1010/bewleys-dublin-council.html"]link[/URL:

The former cafe is now a Starbucks and the application regarding the signage was made by Bewley’s Oriental Cafes Ltd.

admiralofthefleet

bewleys are trying to take the name away, not starbucks. its a protected structure anyway so wont be budging

Cookie_Monster

I can see why, why would Bewley's want their name associated with Starbucks?

MadsL

Can a mod change the thread title to "Company seeks to vandalise its own past or something..."

I give up trying to help Dublin help itself. Sick of the idiocy that goes on.

The Hill Billy

Done...

tHB

starviewadams

Petty move by Bewleys,if the building is a protected structure then I can't see it happening.

MadsL

starviewadams wrote: »

Petty move by Bewleys,if the building is a protected structure then I can't see it happening.

If they had made a decent cup of coffee in the first place they wouldn't have lost the place. I don't have fond memories of the muck that passed for coffee and food in that place in the early 90s.

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

househero

Can't it just be, err, covered up?

The Scientician

I'm just happy such a prominent unit is being used. I think it's kinda petty on the Bewley's part. They're integral to Dublin history even if they don't actually run that particular concession.

Triangular

MadsL wrote: »

If they had made a decent cup of coffee in the first place they wouldn't have lost the place. I don't have fond memories of the muck that passed for coffee and food in that place in the early 90s.

Wow, 20 years ago, you must've really got a cup of crap. Thankfully imo they've improved since then.

tricky D

They could of course lift it and turn it the wrong way around a la Stag's Head mosaic on Dame St.

Scortho

I don't think it should be moved!
Its an iconic part of Westmoreland Street.
Similar in a way to the blarney wollen Mills mosaic at Reads I think!

Also is it not a bit of free advertisement for Bewleys?
Surely tourists will ask why the Starbucks has Bewleys above the door and and as a mosaic on it etc which could lead to them heading over to the one on Grafton St.
While Im not the biggest Starbucks fan, its a hell of a lot nicer that what it was before! The building that is!

ThisRegard

It's not going to be moved, the City Council have said so.

MadsL

ThisRegard wrote: »

It's not going to be moved, the City Council have said so.

I believe they said removal required planning permission. Not quite the same thing.

RacoonQueen

Scortho wrote: »

I don't think it should be moved!
Its an iconic part of Westmoreland Street.
Similar in a way to the blarney wollen Mills mosaic at Reads I think!

Also is it not a bit of free advertisement for Bewleys?
Surely tourists will ask why the Starbucks has Bewleys above the door and and as a mosaic on it etc which could lead to them heading over to the one on Grafton St.
While Im not the biggest Starbucks fan, its a hell of a lot nicer that what it was before! The building that is!

Isn't the one on Grafton St officially cafe en seine? Also, why did starbucks feel the need to open up another cafe when they have on right across the street? starbucks stuff is rank anyway.

MadsL

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Isn't the one on Grafton St officially cafe en seine? Also, why did starbucks feel the need to open up another cafe when they have on right across the street? starbucks stuff is rank anyway.

Are you using iOS6 and Apple Maps perchance?

Cafe en Siene is not on Grafton St.

RacoonQueen

MadsL wrote: »

Are you using iOS6 and Apple Maps perchance?

Cafe en Siene is not on Grafton St.

The bewleys on Grafton St...is run by Cafe en Siene(or some cafe with a similar name), it's not officially bewleys. Look at the small print on their menus. Or just read what I actually posted the first time...

28064212

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Isn't the one on Grafton St officially cafe en seine?

No That's a totally different place on Dawson St

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Also, why did starbucks feel the need to open up another cafe when they have on right across the street?

They don't They have one on Dame St, which is fairly close, but the only one on Westmoreland St is the old Bewley's

28064212

RacoonQueen wrote: »

The bewleys on Grafton St...is run by Cafe en Siene(or some cafe with a similar name), it's not officially bewleys. Look at the small print on their menus. Or just read what I actually posted the first time...

No mention of it on wiki, or on the corporate website

RacoonQueen

28064212 wrote: »

No That's a totally different place on Dawson St


They don't They have one on Dame St, which is fairly close, but the only one on Westmoreland St is the old Bewley's

There's a starbucks beside/as part of the college of computer training on Westmoreland street...and again, look at the menu outside bewleys. Always thought it was bewleys bewleys myself until recently I was told different.

MadsL

I think Cafe en Seine is run by Splash Hospitality, on behalf of Louis Fitzgerald, owner of The Fitzgerald Pub and Hotel Group.

Mr Simpson

Bewleys on Grafton Street was run by Cafe Bar Deli. It is now part of the Bewleys again (which is part of the Campbell Bewley Group, which in turn is part of Aramark, a large multinational. All very confusing).

Also, to clarify. There are two Starbucks on Westmoreland Street, directly opposite eachother.

mickgotsick

RacoonQueen wrote: »

There's a starbucks beside/as part of the college of computer training on Westmoreland street...and again, look at the menu outside bewleys. Always thought it was bewleys bewleys myself until recently I was told different.

Cafe Bar Deli is what you're thinking of.

http://www.wheretoeat.ie/restaurants/bewleys/menus/cafe-bar-deli-bewleys

Mr Simpson

MadsL wrote: »

I think Cafe en Seine is run by Splash Hospitality, on behalf of Louis Fitzgerald, owner of The Fitzgerald Pub and Hotel Group.

Cafe en Seine is run by Splash for Ray Byrne, the guy who owns Wineport Lodge. The Fitzgeralds have no involvement.

Mr Simpson

mickgotsick wrote: »

Cafe Bar Deli is what you're thinking of.

http://www.wheretoeat.ie/restaurants/bewleys/menus/cafe-bar-deli-bewleys

Cafe Bar Deli went into liquidation in 2010, only their Cork restaurant remains. You're right though, Bewleys was run by them for a while.

MadsL

Who runs Westmoreland St Bewleys now, anyone know who the Starbucks franchisee is?

markpb

MadsL wrote: »

Who runs Westmoreland St Bewleys now, anyone know who the Starbucks franchisee is?

Both outlets are operated by Entertainment Enterprises, an entertainment and restaurant group run by brothers Colum and Ciarán Butler. The company had, until last month, operated 10 of the Starbucks Irish branches under licence, with the US multinational directly operating the rest. It now runs all 27 Starbucks outlets in the Republic.

IrishTimes

MadsL

Press Release 11th Oct 2012
An Taisce - Dublin City Council right refuse exemption for removal of Bewley’s signage.


An Taisce welcomes the decision of Dublin City Council to refuse exemption for removal of Bewley’s signage at its former premises on Westmoreland Street, Dublin 2.

The decision allows only for removal of one stained-glass panel incorporating the Bewley’s name, located above the entrance doors. This panel is however non-original and not of historic or artistic value.

Consent will now be required for removal of the mosaic Bewley’s fascia and entrance-threshold signs. While these signs also date to recent decades, they maintain the long-established association of the Bewley’s name with the premises.

ENDS
For further information, please call:

Charles Stanley-Smith, An Taisce Communications - Tel: 087 2411995

Notes:

The cafe was controversially closed at the height of the Celtic Tiger in 2004, and a planning application subsequently lodged to extend the adjoining hotel on Fleet Street into the historic café and also change part of its use to a retail outlet.

Dublin City Council’s decision to approve the retail-outlet portion of the scheme was appealed by An Taisce and the Save Bewley’s Campaign, and the existing historic café space was preserved.

In its 2005 decision, An Bord Pleanala said that, having regard to the “special importance” of the café to the civic, architectural, historic, cultural and social life of the city, the proposal would not be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

Café use finally resumed at the premises earlier this year when Starbucks opened an outlet, maintaining the historic-style frontage to Westmoreland Street including signage. This preserves the collective memory of the former historic landmark Bewley’s café to the city

MadsL

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/good-bean-counters-starbucks-has-paid-no-tax-in-uk-since-2009-8212579.html

Starbucks has exploited
accounting tricks to pay almost no UK tax on the millions of coffees,
sandwiches and cakes bought by the British public over the past decade, it was
revealed yesterday.

An investigation showed that the coffee company has paid only £8m in corporation tax to HMRC in the 14 years since it arrived on British high streets, despite generating sales of £3 billion.

_______________


How much do they pay here? Would we like to guess?