Dublin City Council has approved Keywell DAC’s plan to increase The Clarence Hotel’s rooms from 58 to 162, adding a floor to The Clarence and Dollard House. Aidan Crowe of Banta Restaurants Ltd withdrew a third-party appeal at An Bord Pleanála, clearing the way for the hotel’s expansion.
Banta Restaurants initially supported the redevelopment in December 2024 but lodged an appeal in May 2025, citing concerns over tourism’s impact on Dublin’s city centre.
The expansion will increase the hotel’s capacity to 162 rooms across 8,544 square metres, including a six-storey extension and refurbished venues like the Octagon Bar. The revamp includes transforming Cleaver East into a music pub, replacing Roberta’s Restaurant with an event facility, relaunching Workman’s Cellar as a music venue, and repositioning Anne’s Bar.
Keywell DAC, part of Lifestyle Hospitality Capital, acquired The Clarence from Bono, The Edge, and Paddy McKillen Sr in October 2023 via the Dean Hotel Group.
Aidan Crowe has originally supported the application but then claimed: “approving further tourist accommodation contributes to the gradual erosion of the city centre as a lived-in space, undermining national and local policy objectives around compact growth and sustainable communities.”
Banta Restaurants Ltd shared: “in our capacity as the licensee operator of the restaurant, Cleaver East, which is located within The Clarence Hotel, Banta Restaurants Ltd wishes to express full support for the proposed planning application. The Clarence Hotel, Banta Restaurants Ltd wishes to express full support for the proposed planning application for the development, extension and refurbishment works at the hotel.”
A spokeswoman for the Dean Group shared: “The Clarence hotel is set to undergo a thoughtfully designed renovation and expansion starting in 2025, marking an exciting new chapter for Dublin’s most iconic hotel. Plans include the addition of new guest bedrooms, along with unique spaces dedicated to entertainment, dining, and events.”
History of The Clarence Hotel:
Origins and Early Years: The Clarence Hotel, located at 6–8 Wellington Quay in Dublin’s Temple Bar, first opened in 1852 as a collection of quayside houses on land reclaimed around 1704 for the Old Custom House. The current Georgian redbrick building replaced these houses in the 1930s, operating as a two-star, 70-room hotel by the early 1990s.
In 1992, U2’s Bono and The Edge, along with property developer Paddy McKillen Sr, purchased the hotel. They invested US$8 million in an 18-month renovation, aided by a tax-exemption scheme to revitalise Temple Bar, transforming it into a four-star, 49-room boutique hotel that reopened in 1996. The hotel gained fame for its celebrity clientele and cultural events, including U2’s 2000 rooftop performance of “Beautiful Day” for BBC’s Top of the Pops.
In 2008, architect Norman Foster proposed a €150 million plan to transform The Clarence into a five-star, 141-room hotel with a spa, but the global financial crisis halted it. A 2019 proposal for a 56-room extension was approved but shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By 2019, Paddy McKillen Jr and Matt Ryan of the Press Up Group took over the hotel’s leasehold, managing operations while Bono, The Edge, and McKillen Sr retained ownership. Press Up initiated a makeover, updating the lobby with Art Deco elements and modern furnishings, though some amenities like the Giddy Dolphin pub were critiqued as tourist-centric.
In October 2023, Bono, The Edge, and Paddy McKillen Sr sold The Clarence and adjoining Dollard House to the Dean Hotel Group for €18.07 million, with an additional €3.98 million paid to Press Up’s Brushfield Ltd, ending U2’s 31-year ownership. The Dean Hotel Group, backed by a €43.5 million loan from Leumi UK Group Ltd, aimed to expand the hotel. Despite the ownership change, The Clarence continues to leverage its U2 association, marketed as the “U2 Hotel” or “Bono Hotel.”
