Sir, – We were very pleased to read that Bewley’s will reopen in August (“Bewley’s Grafton Street cafe to reopen from August 27th at latest”, Business, July 31st). But enough is enough.
We helped launch the campaign that saved Bewley’s from permanent closure in 2004 only to see the cafe face an increasingly astronomical rent, a €12 million welcome refurbishment that unfortunately closed its doors for more than two years between 2015 and 2017, and this year’s unprecedented pandemic that closed its doors again.
The State needs to know that there are people out here who are concerned for the national treasure that is Bewley’s
. Bewley’s is much more than a cafe – it’s an Irish institution and we, the Irish people, are its stakeholders. Now is the time for the State to make Bewley’s a national institution. – Yours, etc,
Friends of Bewley’s committee members:
ROSE FOLEY, Co Galway, EMER BURTON, ANN MORONEY, MARY RUSSELL, SIOBHÁN WINDLE, Dublin.