Closing
The Last Service At Thornton's
In Short
After losing its last Michelin star in 2015 and facing high rents, Thornton's closes on 29 October 2016, ending one of Dublin's great fine dining stories.
Every great restaurant has a final night. For Thornton's, it came on 29 October 2016[1].
The end started a year earlier. In September 2015 the restaurant lost the single Michelin star it had held since 2006[1]. The Thorntons said they heard the news on Twitter and had no explanation for it[1].
A Hard Blow
Kevin Thornton called the loss a major setback[1]. The star had brought international visitors to the dining room for nearly twenty years. Without it, fewer tourists came[1].
It was not for lack of guests at home. The restaurant had its best December ever in 2015[1]. But a fine dining room on St Stephen's Green is costly to run, and the rent was high[1].
The Decision
On 1 September 2016 Kevin and Muriel Thornton announced that they would close[1]. They had run the business together for more than 25 years[1]. Muriel had always handled the books, while Kevin ran the kitchen[3].
The record shows how long they stayed at the top. Travel Extra lists Thornton's stars from 1996 to 2015, first on Portobello Road and then at the Fitzwilliam Hotel[2]. That is almost two decades in the Michelin Guide.
What Came Next
Thornton said he would focus on teaching. He planned to concentrate on his cooking masterclasses and take some well-earned time off[1]. Teaching was not new to him; years earlier he had helped create a culinary degree course in Dublin[1][3].
His most lasting legacy is a line in the history books: the first Irish chef to win two Michelin stars[1][2].
Thornton's closed its doors, but the story of the Cashel cook who taught Dublin to take Irish fine dining seriously did not end that night[1][3].
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from these sources. Each number in the text points to the source it came from.