Liquidator hopes sale of well-known eateries with their high-end fittings will yield €550,000
A liquidator who has taken control of the two well-known Dublin city restaurants, the renowned Brasserie Sixty6 and Rustic Stone, formerly operated by Dylan McGrath, is hoping to generate €550,00 from their sales.
He is selling the leasehold interest in each of them along with their fixtures and the high specification fit-outs.
Rory Browne, of Lisney, who is handling the sales, says that the well-located restaurants present exceptional opportunities to rebrand and commence trade quickly, possibly even in time for the peak Christmas period.
Demand could also be helped by a Government reduction in VAT in the Budget.
Both are located on South Great Georges Street and had been operated by Michelin-award winning chef Mr McGrath, who closed them in August while keeping his nearby Fade Street Social eatery open.
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Brasserie Sixty6 can accommodate as many as 220 diners at a time in its 450 sq m premises, with dining and kitchen space at ground level complemented by services and stores at basement level.
Lisney is guiding €300,000 for the sale of its leasehold interest which involves an annual current rent of €260,000 on a 35-year lease dating from July 1996, with about six years left to run.
Rustic Stone can cater for 195 people at a time in its 620 sq m premises which features dining accommodation to basement, ground and first-floor levels complemented by separate kitchen, office, services and stores to upper floor levels.
Located on 17 South Great George’s Street, its 25-year lease dates from January 2014, leaving more than 15 years to run, and its current rent is €210,000. Its guide price is €250,000.
The Georges Street district is popular in Dublin’s social scene for its eclectic collection of hospitality and entertainment venues, and benefits from strong year-round recurring patronage from both tourists and Dubliners.
At the time of the restaurants’ closure in August, Mr McGrath emailed customers with bookings to say: “Both have been very successful restaurants in Dublin city for a long time, but the time has come where we have decided it’s simply not sustainable any more.”
Lisney reports that in 2023 the Rustic Stone generated turnover of €1.94m, of which food accounted for more than €1.26m, drink for €669,000 and tea and coffee for €8,000. But those figures reflect a drop on pre-Covid turnover levels.
In both 2016 and 2017, turnover had been as high as €4.36m but it dropped to €74,000 in 2021 during the height of Covid with its lockdowns, before recovering subsequently.
The restaurant sector has been hit by a wave of issues since then, including lengthy shut downs during the pandemic, surging energy bills in 2021 and 2022 and rising wage costs, alongside a big shift in consumer habits as more people work much of their week from home and spend less time and money in city centre locations.
