BRITISH pub chain JD Wetherspoon will begin building work on its first pub in Ireland on Monday.
The cut-price pub chain purchased the former Tonic Bar in Blackrock, Co Dublin, for €1.5 million in November 2013, and will rename it The Three Tun Tavern.
Refurbishment of the pub will cost an additional €1.5 million, bringing total expenditure of the Dublin branch to €3 million.
The pub is set to be open for business from July 8.
60 full-time and part-time staff will be employed at The Three Tun Tavern, and it is expected to serve food all day.
The pub is due to be open-plan with quality furnishings.
The Blackrock pub will be Wetherspoon’s first entry into the Republic market; it has nine pubs in the North.
In December the company also signed a contract to take control of the former Newport Café site on Paul Street in Cork’s city centre, and announced that it intends to invest €1.5 million into transforming the site later this year.
It is believed to be in negotiations on another 15 premises and has indicated to create a chain of around 30 pubs in the Republic.
