Dublin restaurant Peploe's is to close for two weeks on Saturday as it undergoes a €400,000 refurbishment aimed at drawing more young people through its doors.
Owner Barry Canny was granted a full restaurant licence in the courts on Thursday, which will allow the restaurant to serve a wider range of drinks, including cocktails.
"We eventually had to give in and go for the full restaurant licence," he told The Irish Times. "I wanted to pull away from the whole pubby thing, but with the internationalism of things now it seems a bit unnatural not to be fully licensed.
“There is a generational move but we’re not going to be a teeny-bopper place. It will be a little bit sophisticated, and also chic. There’s lots of new competition coming to Dublin, so we need to be ready for it.”
Head chef Neil Mulholland said it was important to "change with the times" and suit people's requirements.
“We want to keep our core clientele but we do want to tap in to a younger crowd and have a different kind of vibe in the restaurant,” he said. “We have a kind of clubby feel, which is great and we love that, but we want to freshen it up a bit.
“We are going to change the whole restaurant more or less. It’s a big job. We’re changing the bar. We’re redecorating and changing the colour scheme. We’re changing the style of the restaurant. It’ll be much more modern.”
Mr Canny said the new look would be in a “New York style”, and that the bar area will be more suitable for dining.
“The more casual dining area will be table-top and the main restaurant will continue with our linen,” he said. “We’ll have different glasses for cocktails. A glassmaker will do them especially for us. We’re changing our plates and things like that too.
“The menu will be changed. We’ll have a particular bar menu and a restaurant menu. We’ll continue to open seven days a week for lunch and dinner with a big variety of foods and shellfish. Our wine list will remain pretty much as it is.”
Mr Canny said the renovations would cost in the region of €400,000. “That includes changing furniture and all that,” he said. “We’ll continue with the classics like our leather. It’ll be quirky, with a leather finish and very comfortable.”
Mr Mulholland added that the restaurant is planning to increase the size of the kitchen in the future. Peploe’s is expected to reopen on August 11th.
