Cafe and apartments planned for Nest
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A DEVELOPER is seeking permission to house a ground floor café and a first floor two-bedroom apartment in the former premises of the landmark Cuckoo’s Nest pub on the Greenhills Road and for the development of an 18-unit apartment block at the rear of the pub, reports Aideen O’Flaherty.
The pub has been at the centre of contentious plans by developer Legendstand, who are behind the adjoining Temple Woods estate, as last January the Meath-based developer sought permission for the demolition of the pub, to make way for the construction of an apartment building.
Cuckoo’s Nest pub
As previously reported in The Echo, Legendstand submitted an application for a modification to their permitted planning permission for the development of a new housing estate, Temple Woods, beside the pub.
The houses in Temple Woods are now all occupied, and at viewings potential buyers were given brochures which mentioned plans for a gastropub in the place of The Cuckoo’s Nest, which the developer had received planning permission for in the initial planning application.
However, Legendstand Ltd. submitted an application last January seeking permission for the demolition of The Cuckoo’s Nest and the construction of 11 one-bed and 15 two-bed apartments in a four-storey apartment building in its place. Local residents held a well-attended meeting and numerous submissions were made against the plans, with the developer then deciding to withdraw their application last March, but they stated to the council that they intended to submit a similar application about the same site “as soon as possible”.
A site notice for the new plans went up at the Cuckoo’s Nest this week, outlining plans for the demolition of the rear and side extension of the pub, but the retention of the original front of the building to accommodate a café at the ground floor and a two-bed apartment on the first floor.
Plans for the construction of a three- and four-storey building, to be located to the side and rear of the pub, to house 18 apartments, 12 of which are to be one-bed and six of which are to be two-bed, are also included in the site notice.
Provision for the retention of the existing cellar underneath the pub, to instead be used as a plant room for the proposed apartment building, is also part of the plans.
Temple Woods resident Tommy Kenny told The Echo: “The developer promised us a gastro-style pub…we feel let down.
“The modification doesn’t come anywhere near close enough to what the developer and their agents told us in the catalogue they gave us before we bought the house.”
When asked about how local residents feel about the new planning application, Mr Kenny said: “We’re going to keep fighting.”
A decision on the new application for planning permission has not yet been made by South Dublin County Council.
