Dublin City Council told a property investor it would be difficult to justify opening another café near St Stephen's Green.

Insurance firm Friends First had been hoping to cash in on a property it owns on Merrion Row by opening a coffee shop.

They wanted to open on Merrion Row - across the street from a Café Nero.

Planners said there was an "over-proliferation" of places to get a coffee in the area.

There was an increase in the number of independent coffee shops, as well as chains such as Costa and Starbucks, in the capital since the recession, where rents were lower than during the Celtic Tiger.