{"id":461335,"date":"2026-05-22T06:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461335\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T06:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:53:11","slug":"dublins-temple-bar-celebrates-35-years-of-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461335\/","title":{"rendered":"Dublin’s Temple Bar celebrates 35 years of business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dublin’s Temple Bar was officially created in 1991 with legislation that provided tax breaks for its redevelopment and set up Temple Bar Properties to oversee it.<\/p>\n

It was the vision of then taoiseach Charles J Haughey, who had pledged to stop a plan by CIE to demolish much of the area and develop it as a bus station and shopping centre, along with a new road network.<\/p>\n

Now celebrating 35 years in business, Temple Bar has a reported annual footfall of 24 million people, created thousands of jobs and generates around \u20ac700 million a year in trade.<\/p>\n

Temple Bar is famous as Dublin\u2019s tourist destination, with many coming for bars, restaurants and nightlife.<\/p>\n

But the area also has a wealth of cultural venues, with 24 different arts organisations headquartered in the area, including: the Irish Film Institute, The Temple Bar Gallery, Smock Alley Theatre and the children\u2019s arts centre, The Ark.<\/p>\n

It has come a long way since the area was known for dereliction and was earmarked for redevelopment.<\/p>\n

Martin Harte, CEO of the Temple Bar Company, said CIE had planned a bus station for the area and bought up a lot of properties during the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n

While development was awaited, CIE let the properties at very low, short-term rents. This gave rise to a proliferation of alternative clothing and record shops as well as new restaurants.<\/p>\n

\"Temple
\nTemple Bar has come a long way since the area was known for dereliction<\/p>\n

The Project Arts Centre was set up behind the Olympia Theatre in 1975, bringing a radical edge to the arts scene when it took over a former printing works.<\/p>\n

The Temple Bar Gallery followed in 1983, with artists taking over a former shirt factory.<\/p>\n

A business group formed on Crown Alley, including the Bad Ass Cafe. An Taisce made a submission calling for the preservation of the area\u2019s architectural heritage.<\/p>\n

However, Dublin Corporation was still planning a bus station for Temple Bar as it drew up its 1987 draft development plan.<\/p>\n

It was Haughey who vowed he “would not let CIE near the place” and in 1991 the Temple Bar Redevelopment and Renewal Act was passed.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 Archives: TV GAGA explores plans to build a bus station in Temple Bar in 1985<\/p>\n

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\n

It made Temple Bar a legal entity and set its border as Dame St to the north, the Quays to the south, Westmoreland St to the East and Fishamble St to the West.<\/p>\n

Mary Harkin owns Rory\u2019s Fishing Tackle Shop, in the middle of Temple Bar, which was originally opened by her father in 1959.<\/p>\n

She believes that the area has improved, particularly with more people and businesses in it.<\/p>\n

“I think with the markets there, there’s more people coming in. It’s more inviting for people to come in,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The fact that all the galleries are free, that’s just bringing more people, tourists and Irish people, into the area. There’s a lot more independent shops, independent bakeries, and coffee shops, so, you know, it’s a nice place to wander around.”<\/p>\n

The area has its own history, with the 19th century Olympia Theatre and the Palace Bar once the most famous literary pub in the city.<\/p>\n

\"Mary
\nMary Harkin owns Rory’s Fishing Tackle Shop in the middle of Temple Bar which was originally opened by her father<\/p>\n

Paddy Dunning, director of the Button Factory music venue and the Rock and Roll museum, both of which recently won awards, has been in the area for 40 years.<\/p>\n

He first came to Temple Bar as an 18-year-old. He rented a building from CIE to create a rehearsal room for his band.<\/p>\n

Mr Dunning says there is a lot more to the area than stag and hen parties. He points out his own ventures, including a Sound Training College, Recording Studios, a Record shop and a web radio station, Rock.<\/p>\n

The fact remains that the area is still primarily known as a tourist area and for its pubs. The Temple Bar pub is world famous, as both its exterior and interior are streamed live on the web 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n

Owner Tom Cleary says his aim was always to provide an authentic Irish experience. He says that the pub has a special whiskey selection room, casual dining and Irish music playing day and night.<\/p>\n

He says he gets letters from people all over the world who enjoyed the experience.<\/p>\n

Mr Cleary says the huge growth in tourism has come on the back of Ryanair, which opened up the European markets.<\/p>\n

The Temple Bar Pub was originally a small local bar called Flannerys of Temple Bar, and its metamorphosis exemplifies the huge change in the area.<\/p>\n

And while Temple Bar has its critics, most agree that it is better than having it as a bus station.<\/p>\n

Tune into Nationwide tonight on RT\u00c9 One, to see how Temple Bar has changed in the past 35 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dublin’s Temple Bar was officially created in 1991 with legislation that provided tax breaks for its redevelopment and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-461335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}