Supermac's in Temple Bar have been told by Dublin City Council that they need to change their shopfront because it's too traditional.
The fast food outlet have been told that their signage and shop front on their Temple Bar location, along with that of the attached Papa John's pizza restaurant, is not in keeping with the building and is inappropriate for the area.
Located in a building known as The Printworks, originally built in the mid '90s as one of the first phases of the Temple Bar regeneration area, the shop had featured a modern, steel shopfront, but when Supermac's moved into the premises, they replaced it with a faux-traditional one that features columns, cornices and their logo according to The Irish Times.
The Council decided that this "reproduction traditional-style shopfront is inappropriate in this modern four storey building" and that the logos displayed on the signs were also "not of a sufficiently high quality for this location". Supermac's are appealing the decision, but it seems that the shopfronts were installed without permission from the council originally (they did apply last April) and for now at least, they have been asked to restore it to its original state, as it was before they made those changes.
An Taisce, the national trust, have also agreed with the decision of the Council, adding that the fast-food joint was the “antithesis” of Temple Bar, which should be a cultural quarter. They might have missed the boat a bit on that one though...
Via The Irish Times. Main pic via incision.ie
