Dining al fresco during a typical Irish summer? We’ve got it covered, say Irish restaurateurs

He said last summer had been “a race against time to get both places ready – but they were very popular, everybody was delighted to dine out”.

The outdoor improvement cost him €75,000 which he hopes to get back with the new funding. This included retarring a road that was previously used for car parking, a new wall, motorised retractable awning, furniture, safety features, heating, and planting.

“Hopefully, the fund will help us with what we’ve spent – but we still have more work to do to get it open again this year,” he said.

At the Baggot Street restaurant, Mr Cadden bought an awning, which “worked a lot better” than the three-metre-squared gazebos he set up at his city-centre premises.

“It worked but if the weather was in any bit bad it can be very difficult,’ he said, adding that facilitating bookings and walk-in customers in outdoor spaces can be very difficult when the weather is unreliable.

“You do need proper cover. When you're relying on outdoor dining, if there is rain and unless the cover works in bad weather it’s very difficult to operate.

“More pedestrianised streets – where cars can be taken back” would also make outdoor dining easier, he said.

The restaurant owner said Dublin City Council “worked with us” and waived the fee for outdoor dining until March 2021.

“I’m hoping they’re going to do the same this year,” he said.

The move to outdoor dining posed other challenges too, such as keeping footpaths free and helping diners stay warm. “It’s very difficult to get heating outside,” the restaurateur said.

The owner says his restaurant on Baggot Street is now “fully covered and fully heated – and we’re really happy with that”.

Mr Cadden said he is hopeful that “restaurants being creative will be getting our heads together in the next couple of weeks” to try and plan something in Dublin that is similar to Cork’s Princes Street.

“When there’s a few restaurants together it can work really well – such as closing off streets,” he said.

In Cork, 10 restaurants on the city’s Princes Street have banded together and are “leading the charge” in outdoor dining.

Last year, restaurateurs in the city teamed up to form the ‘Eat On The Street’ company on the newly pedestrianised Prince Street.

Claire Nash, owner of Nash 19 on Princes Street, said: “We have 10 restaurants ready to pounce” once restrictions are lifted.

“We have storm-proof parasols and equipment ordered and paid for,” she said.

The businesses are currently waiting for restrictions to be lifted to construct new roofing that comprises joined-up parasols.

“We have equipment ordered since January ready to go.”

Ms Nash said the businesses initially applied for permission to trade on the street three years ago. 

“We’ve been on this for years. It wasn’t something we dreamt up just because of Covid,” she said. “We were probably a little before its time.” 

Looking back on 2020, Ms Nash said, “We had a fantastic July and August last year, even though we didn’t have a covering, but we were blessed with good weather.”

This year the street will have shelter against the elements for “12 months of the year”.

The restaurant owner said the coverings are “necessary during Covid” because on the occasions that it suddenly starts raining, “everyone stands up, grabs their cutlery and their coat and they expect to sit down inside”, something that is not possible due to social distancing.

“You totally have to have it covered – furthermore you have to have it heated.”

Ms Nash said the success of Princes Street was due to the decision to close the narrow street to cars and make it pedestrian only. She added, “The footpaths are still the same so the public can still access the shops.”

 

Online Editors