Hundreds of people took part in a protest in the capital this afternoon objecting to proposals to build a nine-storey hotel around The Cobblestone pub in Dublin's north inner city.

While the developers say the pub will be preserved as part of the plan, there is concern about the impact it could have on the well-known traditional music venue.

The Cobblestone Pub in Smithfield square has been running since 1988 by the Mulligan family and is a central part of the city's traditional music scene.

Earlier this month, Marron Estates applied to build a nine-storey, 114-bedroom hotel at the site on North King Street and while the application says it will retain The Cobblestone pub as a protected structure, there is concern about the impact the development will have on the size, viability and character of the venue.

Tomás Mulligan, the son of the owner Tom Mulligan, grew up in the apartment over the bar. He said the plans would result in the loss of the venue’s back bar, where live music is currently performed, and the beer garden and smoking area to the rear, reducing the capacity by 70%.

"To do that would make this place completely financially unviable. It would just starve us out of the Cobblestone and it would become a glorified hotel resident bar," he said.

"It's horrible. We don't need this. It's just going to kill the character of this square. This is the last building of old Smithfield left.

"There are enough hotels around the place. We do not need this, swallowing up this place. This is a living, breathing part of Ireland and doing this will kill it."

Around 26,000 people have so far signed an online petition objecting to the plans for the site and today hundreds of protesters marched from Smithfield to Dublin City Council's Civic Offices to highlight their concerns.

Protest organiser Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin called on people to lodge objections to the plans before the 4 November deadline.

"It's basically a kind of a cultural hub. The proposal would change it. It would suck the life out of it and just leave a kind of a shell of the former pub there," he said.

Musician John Franic Flynn described the plans as "an attack on our culture".

"People come to learn music there, there are Irish language lessons. I learned all my music in The Cobblestone," he said.

"It's just an attack on our culture and that's why there are so many people out here today. They're not here for just any old pub. "

Sunil Sharpe of the Give us the Night campaign called for emergency measures to be introduced to stop the loss of any more cultural venues in the city.

"This is about an erosion of culture and cultural venues in the city," Mr Sharpe said.

"The council have been aware of this problem for the last few years. They're saying that there is going to be greater protection of venues in the new City Development Plan but Dublin can't wait for that. There has to be emergency measures put in place ASAP."

The future of the site around The Cobblestone will become clearer when Dublin City planners make their decision on the proposals at the end of November.