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Last Chance Saloon...

Superpub entrepreneur now entering last-chance saloon...



CAPITAL Bars is the Dublin hotel and superpub group owned by brothers Liam and Des O'Dwyer.

Through Capital Bars, the O'Dwyer brothers own a number of prominent premises in Dublin, including superpubs Cafe En Seine, which holds up to 1,500 people, Zanzibar and the Trinity Capital Hotel.

The chain also includes Break for the Border and Howl At The Moon.

Like many of the country's hospitality entrepreneurs, the O'Dwyer brothers have been exposed to the downturn.

Earlier this year the group said that it was experiencing "huge downward pressure on room rates and occupancy" and said that it was engaged in "aggressive cost cutting".

Last May Deepdrill Developments, a property vehicle controlled by the two brothers, filed a High Court petition to shut down Danninger, the main operating company behind Ireland's biggest developer, Liam Carroll, who will seek an unprecedented second examinership hearing in the Supreme Court next week for his Zoe group of companies.

But it was conditions placed on a loan facility from Allied Irish Banks, which is owed €26m by Marino Limited -- the parent company that distributed loans down to the O'Dwyers' subsidiaries -- that forced the industry pioneers to seek court protection yesterday.

The O'Dwyer brothers are hoping to break up their empire into "good" and "bad" divisions, allowing the latter to be liquidated to allow their profitable companies to survive.

In all, up to 350 jobs in the capital are at risk.

The High Court will hear a full examinership application next month.



Report - Irish Independent
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