Affluence in Ireland has altered the social habits of this State and led to a radical change in the design of our pubs and restaurants. Today, the two most common features incorporated in these outlets are generous amounts of plate glass and pavement. Neither used to have any place in Irish social life. Bars and restaurants were essentially private places into which the public could not see. The dimensions of their windows were small and intended to conceal what was taking place inside. Social life beyond the home was not meant to be shared with the general public. By contrast, contemporary design for such places prefers to open up the space as much as possible so it interacts with the outside world.
The most obvious explanation for this is the Irish economic boom over the past decade and the commensurate rise in conspicuous consumption. As architect Mary Donohoe remarks: "At the moment, if you've got money, you want to spend it and do so visibly." Therefore, both restaurants and bars now tend to have large plate-glass windows, allowing those inside to see out but, just as importantly, permitting passers-by to observe what is taking place indoors. And the good times often spill out of the building and on to the pavement.
Fewer than 10 years ago, it would be rare to find so much as a solitary chair outside the door of a bar. Now in Irish towns and cities, large areas of pavement are given over to seating for drinkers and the same phenomenon can be seen in many urban restaurants. "We're dealing with a culture of affluence," says architect Derek Tynan, "but you have to bear in mind that culturally we've changed our alignment away from Britain towards the United States and Europe. That permeates how we look at our bars and restaurants. Even if there wasn't affluence, there would be a change in our aspirations." This shift has been noticed by outside observers. A feature in the New York Times last week on Ireland's economic development remarked that the look of this State's new pubs "seems to have more to do with the East Coast of the United States than the West Coast of Ireland".
While the number of bars here has remained fairly consistent, new restaurants are opening at a startling rate. A survey conducted by CERT at the end of last year of employment in the service sector showed that while there were 1,263 restaurants in the Republic in 1992, that figure has risen to just under 2,000.
The growth is greatest in Dublin, which accounts for more than 30 per cent of restaurants. In the capital the number of new food outlets increased from 420 in 1998 to 600 a year later, a rise of over 40 per cent. Since 1996, the number of people employed in the industry has similarly grown by some 55 per cent, from around 26,000 to over 40,000.
The quality of impermanence that has become a feature of so many aspects of contemporary Irish life is just as evident in the service sector. As Derek Tynan observes: "It's worth considering how many restaurants today are trading under the same names as they did 10 years ago." Restaurants are as liable to suffer from obsolescence as anything else, but because their design and fit-out is so expensive, those costs have to be handed on to the consumer. Your bill at the end of a meal will represent not just the price of the food and service, but also the soft furnishings which are likely to be thrown out after less than a decade of use.
Many architects comment on the problem of over-designed restaurants in which a large number of different materials are employed without much effect. The places most frequently cited as being successful, such as Eden in Temple Bar or Mao on Chatham Street, are relatively simple, even austere, in their interior decoration, use natural materials and are unlikely to need an overhaul after just a few years. In relation to bars, while planning restrictions mean the number of licensed premises has not increased, their appearance is quite different to what used to be seen in Ireland. In keeping with global trends, bars are now usually planned around themes which have nothing whatever to do with local circumstances.
Obviously the "Irish pub" phenomenon, which has enjoyed so much success elsewhere during the 1990s, did not find much of a response here, but a similarly superficial application of national design characteristics lay behind such bars as the Russian-themed Pravda and the African-inspired Zanzibar.
"I think there's a dearth of original thinking here and no imagination about how things are laid out," comments architect Niall McCullough. "In the new bars, the people involved haven't looked closely at how traditional interiors have been laid out and why. Secondly, no one spends enough money to do it properly. Even if it's only going to last five years, more should be spent on materials and finishes."
Contemporary bars are often much larger than their predecessors - some of the biggest now hold up to almost 1,000 clients - and this inevitably has an impact on their design as accommodation of numbers is the priority. Once again, therefore, buildings will be given what is, in effect, a superficial dressing that can be removed once no longer in favour with the public. At the moment, as a quick glance around many recently overhauled Irish bars shows, the preferred style is for pale colours, dark wood and seating in suede, as seen in bars such as the Bailey and Cocoon (the former Buttery Brasserie in Dublin's Hibernian Way). But there is no doubt that this look will very quickly become dated and have to be replaced before the end of the present decade.
The traditional Irish bar represented permanence and stability, its decoration likely to remain unaltered over generations of ownership. This image, questionable as it may be, is what made fake Irish pubs so popular elsewhere in Europe. But while these shrines to tradition are erected in other countries, increasingly here the transitory has been celebrated.
As owners of pubs and restaurants can confirm, consumer loyalty is no longer easily achieved. However, constantly changing the appearance of your premises in order to retain customers is a risky, and expensive, business.