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Wetherspoon to hire 200

JD Wetherspoon says it will open its €21m hotel and bar in Dublin's Camden Street in October and hire 200 workers. wetherspoon1119

Wetherspoon had originally planned to open the Keavan's Port hotel and pub - representing the single biggest investment by the firm in its 41-year history - last year. But a series of delays, capped by the Covid-19 closure of construction sites, means October 20 is the new opening date.

The firm operates more than 875 pubs and 50 hotels, including seven pubs and one hotel in the state.

EU will allow VAT reduction say Publicans

An amended European directive gives the new Government power to apply and extend a lower hospitality VAT rate to on-trade alcohol sales (pubs, restaurants, hotel bars), pub0118 according to the Drinks Ireland group

The group is calling for a temporary reduction in the hospitality VAT rate; and extending it to apply to alcohol sales in the on-trade (pubs, restaurants, hotel bars), until 31 December 2020 as part of the July stimulus package currently being negotiated by Government. The measure is being sought to support pubs – 7,000 businesses nationwide – and particularly rural pubs, as they begin their long and slow road to recovery after lockdown in what will be a difficult trading period in the months ahead.

'Mc Breakfast' is Back

Breakfast is back on the menu at some McDonald's restaurants across Ireland from today.

More than 80 outlets will be offering the fast-fook chain's popular breakfast to customers again.

McDonald's also announced that seven more of its Irish branches will be reintroducing walk-in takeaway services.

They include restaurants at Mahon Point, Dún Laoghaire and Limerick.

Indian restaurant closed

An infestation of cockroaches was among the reasons an Indian restaurant in Dublin's city centre was ordered to shut last month.

The Food Safety Authority (FSA) issued two businesses with closure orders in June – Dera on Parnell Street in Dublin and Giovanni's in Jenkinstown, Co Louth.

Dera was ordered to shut after cockroaches were found in the kitchen where food was prepared, cooked and handled.

“Live and dead cockroaches were noted on the floor beneath the food preparation fridge,” the inspection report said

Giovanni’s was issued with an improvement order last October but failed to comply within the specified timeframe.

McCann 'Optimistic' on Staycations

Pat McCann, CEO of Dalata, is optimistic about the prospects for domestic tourism and predicts that it will perform strongly, particularly in rural areas, as the country begins to re-open over the coming months. The focus of the sector in 2021, he says, will be on rebuilding businesses but it will likely be 2023 before we see a return to fully ‘normal’ tradin mccann0320 g in the tourism sector.

Speaking to Richard Curran as part of The EY Podcast series, Mr McCann said, “people will have an opportunity to get away in an Irish context and I think they will take full advantage of the fantastic country that we have.” Coupled with the value that will be available to those who choose to take a ‘staycation’ he believes “we could be quite surprised as to how well Irish people take it [domestic holidays] up.”