Gruel

Hootanany

Has it closed down loved there half & half shame if it true

admiralofthefleet

is that the place on lord edward street?

AnonoBoy

It's on Dame Street.

Has it closed down?

Hootanany

Shutters down since Friday

Hootanany

Mermaid blinds were closed as well are they connected

jdivision

They're connected alright. Would be surprised if true - sad

herya

yes read somewhere they went out of business.

Hootanany

Lovely food very late convert but everytime i was there it was packed

Degsy

Hootanany wrote: »

Mermaid blinds were closed as well are they connected

A friend of mine was a chef there,got laid off just before christmas.

Giblet

Ah ****e!

Hootanany

Giblet wrote: »

Ah ****e!

Baking Powder

woolymammoth

herya wrote: »

yes read somewhere they went out of business.

Hootanany wrote: »

Lovely food very late convert but everytime i was there it was packed

more evidence of greedy ****ing landlords? or just bad business people? Or tough market?

cailinoBAC

http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/

See the letter 'closure of restaurants'

woolymammoth

cailinoBAC wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/

See the letter 'closure of restaurants'

I ****ing hate those greedy bastards.

so that it may be forever immortalised and not hidden in the depths of news archives:

Madam, – It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of the Mermaid Café and Gruel on Dame Street, Dublin.
For two years we have weathered the economic storm which has seen a fall-off in trade of over 30 per cent, but have now been forced to lock our doors primarily by the intransigence of landords who still demand boom-time rents with their upward-only review mechanisms still in place.
As we depart, we can only wonder at the shortsightedness of this behaviour that has robbed Dublin of a viable business operating what we believe to have been two well-loved eateries, placed 30 people out of work and left many suppliers high and dry as we enter a new year. To these latter, our strongest feeling of regret.
We hope over the past 16 years that we have contributed something to the cultural life of the capital and we would like especially to thank all our loyal patrons over the years, many Irish Times readers among them, who may miss us as we do them, for their support. Goodbye and good luck. – Yours, etc,
MARK HARRELL
BENEDICT GORMAN,
Dame Street,
Dublin 2.

Our company moved office about 3 months ago. After we'd made all the arrangements, but just before we'd signed, the bastard LL tried to up the rent! :mad: It's no wonder so many places are going out of business. And neither politicians or their darlings of the media will pick up on it!

ceadaoin.

cailinoBAC wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/

See the letter 'closure of restaurants'

There's also an article in the business section

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0114/1224287488277.html

Boom__Boom

Taken from the article in the Business section

The combined rent on the two restaurants at 68 and 69 Dame Street was €190,000. When Mr Harrell and Mr Gorman opened the Mermaid, at number 69, in 1996, the rent was £15,000.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I know the £15,000 initially was only for number 69 but that's an insane rise in costs to €190,000.

The landlord should really be named and shamed here and questioned as to how they believe that €190,000 is a justifiable level of rent in the current environment.

stovelid

Maybe the buildings have changed hands since 1996 and are under a large mortgage now?

Obviously, I agree that the rents are ridiculous though.

CBFi

Such a pity - i loved Gruel although I'd never been to The Mermaid. It seems that a lot of retailers, landlords and suppliers still think we're in the middle of a boom. such bad business!

woolymammoth

stovelid wrote: »

Maybe the buildings have changed hands since 1996 and are under a large mortgage now?

if that were true, then what will happen now that they (the landlords) are out €190,000? Nothing. Because I'd bet it was largly profit.

Degsy

Boom__Boom wrote: »

The landlord should really be named and shamed here and questioned as to how they believe that €190,000 is a justifiable level of rent in the current environment.

The owners will be listed in Thom's directory or Thom's Commercial directory.

Hootanany

Thats some jump in rent crazy bucks to be shelling out then there is rates waste charges water charges and god knows what other charges phew i out of breath.

Twee.

This did not come from a 100% source and I can't find anything about it online, but I heard that the new cafe upstairs in Tower Records is operated by the Gruel/Mermaid crowd.

Hootanany

Hope the grub is as good

Twee.

I should visit for "research" purposes....

Hootanany

Lettuce know how you get on

John_Rambo

Can't believe the Mermaid is closed. Great great treat for lunch.

Sergeant

The hot beef rolls in Gruel were gorgeous. Shame to see the place go.

CrazyRabbit

Some of the small-medium sized units in the Blanchardstown centre have rents over €500,000. I don't know how those shops make a profit. I guess the shops must be passing the cost onto us..the consumers.

Hootanany

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Some of the small-medium sized units in the Blanchardstown centre have rents over €500,000. I don't know how those shops make a profit. I guess the shops must be passing the cost onto us..the consumers.

That scandalous
:eek:

Twenty10

Twee. wrote: »

This did not come from a 100% source and I can't find anything about it online, but I heard that the new cafe upstairs in Tower Records is operated by the Gruel/Mermaid crowd.

Twee, I had breakfast in Sound Bites the other morning and it was really nice, coffee was great in my opinion.

Review here (not mine!);
http://prudence.ie/?p=4275

Only problem with the place is that you get so comfortable and relaxed that you don't want to leave - good music playing in the shop also.

Nevyn

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Some of the small-medium sized units in the Blanchardstown centre have rents over €500,000. I don't know how those shops make a profit. I guess the shops must be passing the cost onto us..the consumers.

A lot of them are going to end up closing, Gamesworkshop closed new years eve.

Hootanany

Blanch probally cost 40 mill to build i mean they dont have to get it all back in 15/20 years greedy xxxekers

CrazyRabbit

Thaedydal wrote: »

A lot of them are going to end up closing, Gamesworkshop closed new years eve.

Wow...didn't know that. That place was always very busy, so I'm surprised they weren't making money. Shame really as it was good for the kids.

Hootanany

Was that the Warhammer place

CrazyRabbit

Hootanany wrote: »

Was that the Warhammer place

Yup.

Coriolanus

Bah, regretting all the times I gave them a pass cause I didn't want to queue. Where to get a delish roast in a roll now.

Dudess

I was in a place in Cork last night which is very similar to Gruel, which I made mention of, only to be advised of this bad news. Terrible shame - fantastic food and such lovely people. One of my favourite places to go when living in Dublin.

Nevyn

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Wow...didn't know that. That place was always very busy, so I'm surprised they weren't making money. Shame really as it was good for the kids.

Hootanany wrote: »

Was that the Warhammer place

I was there for the last 30 mins before the shutter went down for the last time.
They had auctioned all the scenery boards. There was a lot of players hanging around of all ages sad to see it go and hoping they might see each other in the city but relastically it's too far for most to travel for a game or two on an evening and most of the younger kids wouldn't be let.

boosh_fan

Dudess wrote: »

I was in a place in Cork last night which is very similar to Gruel, which I made mention of, only to be advised of this bad news. Terrible shame - fantastic food and such lovely people. One of my favourite places to go when living in Dublin.

Was that the Silk Purse by any chance?

The closure of Gruel and Mermaid is such a shame for Dublin. There should be some intervention for home-grown businesses like these which can help them stay afloat rather than letting them go under and sticking another Starbucks/ Subway into the builings. It makes me sick to be honest.

Dudess

boosh_fan wrote: »

Was that the Silk Purse by any chance?

Heh, spot-on.

JupiterKid

I was a fan of Gruel too - I loved their funky irregular decor and especially their delicious roast on a roll.

Another casualty of the economic car crash that is Ireland.:(

Riamfada

Speaking of crazy rents I never understood how places like Gamesworkshop or Forbidden Planet make enough to cover these types of rents, let alone other expenses.

Nevyn

Riamfada wrote: »

Speaking of crazy rents I never understood how places like Gamesworkshop or Forbidden Planet make enough to cover these types of rents, let alone other expenses.

Gamesworkshops sells a lot more then people think, esp the likes of the novels and they actively support and encourage new people starting in the hobby and once they get collecting it all ads up.

Forbidden Plant aka forbidden prices is a book shop, collectables, manga and comic book store all rolled into one, it reaches out to several differing randoms and nerd types and those who need/prefer to by in real shop rather then online.
A lot of thier stuff is priced over the odds but your not waiting for it to be shipped or paying postage and packaging and hoping it gets pass customs.

wixfjord

Good blog post here about the whole thing.
The top of Georges St really is awful looking with the amount of derelict buildings.
Surely it's better to have someone in there than nothing?

Faith+1

Christ the way things are going only the big players will be left .i.e McDonalds, Spar, Starbucks etc... Every town in this Country is already starting to look the bloody same.

Irish Halo

Damn, Gruel was easily my favourite place to eat in Dublin and was my #1 recommendation to people who wanted something a little different. I never ate in The Mermaid but only because it was beside Gruel and would go on there instead.

Scruff101

No way can't believe this, I LOVED the brownies from Gruel!!!!!

diddlybit

I've spent years intently peering at the menu of The Mermaid waiting for the day that I had enough disposable cash to eat there. Should have sold my first born to have the oppurtunity, damn!

So sad Gruel is gone, great place to people watch

Fanny Cradock

I was planning on going there tonight

I can't help but hope that the premises stay empty for a very long time and the landlady comes to regret her greed. 30 people out of jobs and two excellent restaurants closed because somebody wanted to line their pockets.

gubernaculum

Twee. wrote: »

This did not come from a 100% source and I can't find anything about it online, but I heard that the new cafe upstairs in Tower Records is operated by the Gruel/Mermaid crowd.

Sound Bites cafe upstairs in Tower Records is definitely being run by at least 2 of the ex-Gruel folk. They're doing some similar fare to Gruel's old menu and the coffee's good

I miss the Mermaid, had some great meals there.