Making It Work: Getting a taste for the finer gastropub

The new owners of the Purty Kitchen in Dún Laoghaire hope to bridge the gap between high-end restaurant and cosy local pub

James Burgess and Mark Heather: ‘We don’t want to go into 2022 just looking to survive.’ Picture: Dena Shearer

Over the course of 20 years in the hospitality industry, Mark Heather has worked on bar and restaurant floors as well as in more senior positions at several companies including NolaClan, which operates House, Xicos and 9 Below in Dublin.

But now he has taken on his own venue with James Burgess, another industry veteran.

“We really wanted this project to be local,” Heather said of the Purty Kitchen, a longtime bar and restaurant which ...