| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment and Hospitality |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | Dublin Ireland |
| Key people | William L.B. O'Dwyer, Desmond O'Dwyer, Joint Managing Directors |
| Revenue | €36.1m (2004) |
| Employees | ? |
| Website | www.capitalbars.com |
Capital Bars plc (formerly known as Break for the Border Group plc) is an Irish leisure company based in Dublin. Its core business is the acquisition, development and operation of bars, hotels and restaurants, all based in Dublin city centre. Brothers Desmond and Liam O'Dwyer control the company as Joint Managing Directors. After acquiring Capital Bars in 2001, the O’Dwyers took the company private the following year.
The company entered mixed examinership/liquidation on September 19, 2009; five days after poor results showing a 10m euro loss in the previous year.
The current portfolio of five multi-themed bars (several of them 'superpubs') are all situated in key locations in Dublin City Centre. Each bar/club is unique in design and ambience. The five bars are:
On October 13, 2010, the Freehold of Cafe En Seine was purchased by Businessman Louis Fitzgerald, owner of The Fitzgerald Pub and Hotel Group.
The hotel division includes:
Trinity Capital Hotel, a classic contemporary style hotel close to Trinity College in Dublin city centre.
Grafton Capital Hotel, a traditional Georgian style townhouse hotel with 75 bedrooms at the top of Grafton Street in Dublin city centre.
The official website of Capital Hotels Dublin is www.capital-hotels.com
The business originally began in O'Dwyers Bar and Lounge, in Mount Street Dublin 2. This small family run pub was extensivley refurbished by elder brother Liam O'Dwyer in the early 1980s and became the first "victorian style" pub of which Dublin is so well known for now. This was also one of the first pubs in Dublin to sell "pub-grub" at lunch times.