AROUND 3,000 PEOPLE have already signed a petition to save the well-known Paris Bakery on Dublin’s Moore Street.
Renowned for its delicious treats and freshly baked bread, the restaurant and delicatessen has hit the headlines for other reasons recently.
The Moore Street bakery is set to be demolished with the loss of 70 jobs to make way for the construction of a €900 million Dublin Central shopping centre development.
Petition
In a bid to prevent the demolition, a petition was launched last week, and so far, over 3,ooo people have signed it.
The proposed development includes numbers 14 to 17 Moore Street which were declared a national monument because of their use in the 1916 Rising, however the Paris Bakery at 18 and 19 Moore Street also maintain that part of their building also has elements from the 1916 Rising and that they leave it be.
The developers Chartered Land were granted planning permission in 2010 for the shopping centre development but no construction has begun and the site is now part of Nama.
Last week, the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan announced that Nama would finance the restoration of the national monument buildings by Chartered Land.
Support
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, the Paris Bakery’s operational manager Stephen Cunningham said that the response they have received over the weekend has been “massive” stating that all weekend, people have been coming into the restaurant to offer their support. “All over Facebook and Twitter too there are great messages of support for us,” he said.
He said they could not afford to relocate the premises and would have to close the business when their lease expires in four months.
He said that this afternoon, Jim Connolly Heron, the great-grandson of James Connolly, who met with Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan yesterday to discuss his concerns about the demolition of the bakery, is coming back to the restaurant today to inspect a room on the premises that has been blocked up for many years.
Cunningham said that Heron and a building surveyor are going to inspect to the room, and see if there is any evidence that it too has elements associated to the 1916 Rising.
He said that he could not understand how the demolition was approved when it will be “a loss in rent of over €17,000 a month and that it will be putting 70 families on the dole”.
Cunningham said that he had not had any correspondence or contact with Chartered Lands since the demolition of the bakery had been highlighted publicly.
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