JD Wetherspoon is to open its new pub in Dublin city centre on June 21, with the creation of 70 new jobs. The company has spent EUR 4 million developing the outlet, on the site of a former bank and chapel, in Lower Abbey Street. The new pub will specialise in real ales, as well as craft and world beers, serving a wide range of different draught ales, as well as bottled beers, including those from local and regional brewers. The first building, an Italianate-style former bank which was designed by architect Isaac Farrell, is remembered in the new pub name and inspired by the first Irish coinage. Originally opened in 1839, the elegant proportions of its classical façade and ornate stonework complement the adjacent former chapel, with its far simpler but no less beautiful exterior. The new pub design complements the structure of both historic landmark buildings, as well as offering a contemporary, warm and vibrant pub atmosphere.

The Wetherspoon pub, which will be called The Silver Penny, will be managed by Filip Mordak. He was previously at The Forty Foot, Wetherspoon's pub in Dún Laoghaire.