The account show that the two men, who operate Bewley's caf� at Grafton Street, Dublin, under an executive licence, invested over Euro1.2m in the chain that year, including over Euro750,000 in renovation work on premises that it leases.

The accounts reveal that, in 2005, the chain owned none of the buildings it operated from and the chain has lease obligations worth Euro95,766, which were due between 2006 and 2010.

Despite the chain's rapid expansion, the amount of PAYE and PRSI paid by the company fell in 2005 to Euro11,973, compared to Euro52,012 the previous year.

Caf� Bar Deli currently has six branches - three in south Dublin and one each in Limerick, Sligo and Cork. Bourke and Foyle are working on opening their seventh branch, which will open on the site of their current pub Gubu, at Capel Street in Dublin 7.

There have been rumours that the Caf� Bar Deli chain is up for sale but these have been consistently denied by Bourke.