{"id":668677,"date":"2026-10-29T08:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T08:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668677\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T08:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T08:44:07","slug":"end-of-an-era-dublin-castle-cafe-owner-harbours-no-bad-feelings-over-closure-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668677\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018End of an era\u2019: Dublin Castle cafe owner harbours no bad feelings over closure \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

From his cafe in Dublin Castle<\/a>, Abraham Phelan has seen monumental State visits and banquets, hosting foreign royalty, diplomats and US presidents over the last two decades.<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old, originally from Jerusalem, has called Ireland home for 45 years or so, for 26 of which he has owned the Silk Road Cafe, which is due to serve its last customers at the complex this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the end of an era,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Silk Road Cafe <\/a>was at the centre of a long-standing dispute after he was told he would have to close for the duration of the State\u2019s six-month EU presidency.<\/p>\n

Phelan was initially granted an injunction in June restraining his landlord, the Chester Beatty Library, from closing down his cafe for security reasons.<\/p>\n

Mediation talks ultimately ended on Tuesday after both parties reached a confidential settlement that would mean his cafe closes on Friday.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Dublin Castle cafe at centre of security shutdown dispute to close permanentlyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Phelan, who said he could not speak about the agreement, said it was a \u201csad time for myself and for the staff\u201d.<\/p>\n

He would have preferred to stay open for \u201canother couple of years\u201d, saying he planned to retire at 75 after launching a cookery book next year that incorporates his life story.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there comes a time to say, for my sake, for peace of mind, for my age, it\u2019s time to actually step back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Across his cafe, cookery school and catering business, he said his staff would total about 40 in the summer months, though he has had to let go the vast majority. This is the \u201csaddest part\u201d, he said, describing staff members as family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been looked after. Some of them have moved to another job, some of them have been given redundancy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Six staff members remain, he said, and will continue to work at his cookery school and catering business after his retirement.<\/p>\n

Despite the dispute, he said he was \u201csaddened to see certain people go after the Chester Beatty\u201d when news of his cafe\u2019s closure broke.<\/p>\n

He would have understood the order to close had compensation been offered, he said, noting that his cafe was the \u201conly private business in Dublin Castle\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unfairness of the whole situation pushed me,\u201d Phelan said, adding that when he ultimately took the issue to the courts, he was \u201cfighting people who I respect, people who I have an amazing relationship with\u201d, which was \u201codd\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Dublin\u2019s Silk Road Cafe granted injunction to stop landlord from closing it during EU presidencyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is sad, but I am actually proud of myself. I did not take it on the chin. I did not accept the wrong that\u2019s been done to me and to my staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Phelan said he received legal advice that he could seek an injunction against Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have actually locked the gate of Dublin Castle and put the Government under pressure to compensate and sort out the problem before the start of the EU presidency, and I did not do that because that\u2019s not the type of person I am,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The cafe\u2019s final opening on Friday will be another normal day, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do our thing. Life will go on,\u201d he said, adding he wishes the Chester Beatty \u201cthe best of luck\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no bad feeling whatsoever. What\u2019s done is done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From his cafe in Dublin Castle, Abraham Phelan has seen monumental State visits and banquets, hosting foreign royalty,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[157633,62613,5148,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-668677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-chester-beatty-library","tag-dublin-castle","tag-european-union","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}