Vacancy Watch: The old Ardee House pub near Newmarket

The Ardee House pub on the corner of Ardee Street and Chamber Street in the Tenters has been vacant for at least a decade.

Gold letters spelling “Ardee House” are mostly intact but paint on the walls is peeling and graffitied.

Last Saturday, long-time Tenters resident Denis Reilly strolled past, with a small black dog in tow. He remembers Ardee House as a decent pub, he says.

The pub appears to have been open as recently as 2009, when a truck drove into the building in the early hours of the morning, according to the Irish Independent.

Resident Iseult Coffey recalls that the pub was renovated to repair structural damage, but closed down shortly afterwards.

In November 2017, Black Sheep Investments – a company owned by Jack Teeling – bought the old Ardee House for €504,935, say company records. It bought the building from Teeling Whiskey Limited, the records say.

Since the acquisition, Black Sheep Investments has not filed any requests for planning permission. Some residents and local officials say they have been frustrated seeing the pub collecting dust for so many years.

“It’s an awful waste,” said Social Democrats Councillor Jen Cummins, who says she’s  lived in the Tenters for 20 years. “It could be such a lovely place to hang out.”

The lack of community spaces in Dublin 8 leads to fragmentation in the community, she said.

Dereliction and development

The neighbourhood around Ardee House has seen rapid development in recent years.

Since 2022, Newmarket and Mill Street have seen the opening of Newmarket Yards, a housing complex with over 400 apartments, a Premier Inn hotel, The Eight, which is offices, and the New Mill student accommodation.

Opposite Ardee House is Nido’s Ardee Point, a student complex which opened in 2022. At the other end of the street, the council last year built a social housing complex bordering Weaver Park.

Among these shiny new buildings is the derelict Ardee House.

Jack Teeling has not responded to queries sent via an email on Black Sheep Investments company records on 11 July, or messages sent to him by WhatsApp on Tuesday, or calls and a voicemail on Tuesday.

The Teeling Company said the building was not owned by the Teeling Company itself, but did not provide further comment.

Dereliction is an issue frequently raised by residents in the Tenters, says Cummins and  Sinn Féin Councillor Máire Devine.

In June, locals commemorated the third anniversary of the fire that destroyed the Donore Avenue Community Centre, which has yet to be rebuilt.

The redevelopment of St Teresa’s Gardens, a block of derelict flats on Donore Avenue, has been on hold since the early 2000s. An Bord Pleanála approved a redevelopment plan by the council and the Land Development Agency which is set to begin construction this year.

In January 2021, the council approved a planning application from the Creedon Group to develop the rundown site across from Ardee House, which includes the former Gem Newsagent, into a mixed-use building with 24 apartments. Construction hasn’t started.

The company has not responded to a request for a progress update sent to their company email last Saturday.

History of the building

Reilly, the Tenters local, says he remembers Ardee House as decent. Kind of like the nearby Pimlico Inn and the Lamplighter Lounge, which have also closed in recent years, says Reilly.

Iseult Coffey, who lives around the corner from Ardee House, remembers older folks celebrating birthdays and bingo nights there.

In January 2009, local developer James Leslie Curtis was refused planning permission to demolish Ardee House and build a six-storey building with apartments, a bar and an off-licence.

An Bord Pleanála argued that the Victorian-era red brick building holds historical and cultural significance, and any plans to redevelop it should use the existing structure.

What should be done with the site

Former Dublin City Council planner Kieran Rose says that property owners leaving buildings like Ardee House undeveloped “lacks civic responsibility”.

What could provide commercial space for a local entrepreneur or much-needed housing, he said, instead become vacant properties which leave “a blight on the area”.

Last Thursday, Devine, the Sinn Féin councillor, asked the council if it would consider a Compulsory Purchase Order of the building. The Derelict Sites Section of the council said it currently has an active file on the case.

Fiona Devlin, a case manager for the Derelict Sites Section, said she would write to the owners “regarding the condition of this site” once she had confirmed the owner’s details.

What replaces the vacancy though matters, say some local residents.

“Probably be gone soon,” said Tenters resident Reilly last Saturday, gesturing towards the building.

So many buildings in the area have become high-end student accommodation or housing, he said. Behind him, Nido’s Ardee Point lets rooms to students for upwards of €275 a week.

“You’d have to be a pretty wealthy student to live around here,” he said.

With potentially thousands of new residents moving to the Tenters in the near future, Councillor Devine says the council should invest in more public services in the area.

She said that the neighbourhood lacks a local library, so that residents need to either go to Dolphin’s Barn or Kevin Street. A public pool would also be a useful amenity, she said.

With the changing neighbourhood, said the councillor, whatever comes of Ardee House should be “of, for and by the community”.