Bewley's back in business again

Bewley's Grafton Street Cafe will resume serving its famous breakfasts this morning for the first time since its closure last November - but with a crucial difference.

Customers entering the cafe from 7.30am can look forward to a breakfast of scones, bagels and croissants, but no rashers, sausages or even fried eggs.

The traditional fried breakfast has been replaced by granola and a choice of porridges, what Campbell Bewley marketing director James Healy describes as a "very modern healthy breakfast".

Respect for tradition has been observed with the return of the Bewley's Cafe Theatre under the artistic direction of Michael James Ford. The theatre reopened yesterday with a specially commissioned show Coming Up Roses, presented by Finnish theatre group Rakastajat, which was originally invited a year ago, before the closure was announced.

The show was scheduled to begin at Bewley's last week, but had to be postponed because of delays in construction.

Temporary premises were provided by the Gaiety Theatre.

"We're very grateful to the Gaiety who looked after us brilliantly at the weekend, this place was still a bombsite," Ford said. "This is a great show to open up with and the place was packed, so I have high hopes for the future of the theatre."

The play "gives a whole new meaning to the word bizarre", according to RTÉ producer Kevin Reynolds, but the reopening of the theatre was "magnificent".

"There's no other lunchtime theatre in the city and it's run on clippings of tin, every sell is a hard sell, but it is incredible value."

Soup, a sandwich and the show costs €14.

The relaunch of the theatre brings the phased reopening of Bewley's almost to completion. Cafe Bar Deli - a Mediterranean- style restaurant with beer and wine licence and with several branches in Dublin and countrywide - opened in the famous Harry Clarke Room and on the first floor last week.

Mackerel, a fish restaurant on the second floor, seating about 50 people, opened last Thursday.

The coffee roaster, the centre- piece of the front-of-house cafe, will open tomorrow along with a full retail counter. Bewley's tea and coffee expert Paul O'Toole will be on hand for advice and recommendations.

"We hope to become fully operational during this week," Mr Healy said.

"Last week we started opening at 5.30pm and this week, it started at noon, but now we'll be opening from 7.30 each morning. Already the numbers coming through the door have been huge, it has been chaotic at times, but the staff are coping very well."