One of Ballsbridge's most famous celebrity haunts has closed. Expresso Bar Cafe on Mary's Road in D4, owned by Anne Marie Nohl, closed at 5pm on 15 April for the last time. Nohl, who also owns Le Rouge in Cabinteely village, had seen her traditional customer base eroded by the recession and by the continuing exodus of her clients, many of whom moved to London, or further afield.
Nohl told the Irish Independent of her 'devastation' at the closure of the café, saying "I couldn't do it with the level of staff I had in there. I had four full-time and then I had everyone on part-time and I was covering everyone's shifts to try and keep the wages down. It was just impossible to keep it going.
"I needed some working capital to reinvent the business and try and change it to the new market that I was given – the lower spend – but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do it on my own. I needed support from the banks and I couldn't get it."
