As the sun beat down on the eve of another sunny weekend in Drury Street in Dublin, revellers on the street were in high spirits. Beaming from ear to ear, they danced to live music and clutched tote bags filled with drinks of every persuasion.
But while Drury Street has become quite the destination for the young socialite – seen as a buzzy oasis in the concrete jungle of the capital – the throngs congregating have caused issues for some long-standing retailers on the street.
“People block the way in, and people look up through the street, come down to the end where [retailer] Costume is, and think: ‘Oh God, I’m not going through that’,” said Helen McAlinden, standing at the door of her eponymous women’s clothes shop.
“We love the fact that it’s a lively street. It has a great buzz. We love kids around the place, but it’s a bit over the top now and it is affecting business,” she added.
David McWilliams: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this economic chaos. Buckle up’
My grandfather died by suicide. I work in the same Irish university where he taught history
Government plans to quickly remove citizenship from convicted terrorist
Contraceptive concerns: ‘When I came off the pill, everything became so much better’
The street was pedestrianised in 2021, but unlike other areas of Dublin where traffic was recently removed, such as Capel Street and Liffey Street Lower, no infrastructural changes have been made to accommodate the change in use.
“If there were loads of chairs and tables and they were buying from businesses on the street, that would be fab, very continental and great,” she said. “But they’re sitting on the street and buying from the off-licence at the top of the road, cheap booze”.
Across the road in vintage clothing shop Jenny Vander, part-time manager Marian Sullivan is sounding a different tone.
“It’s wonderful for the city centre to have people around enjoying themselves. It keeps it alive,” she said. “It’s really important, because everything complements each other, you know. And there’s a good garda presence too.”
Sullivan said her business has not been badly affected by the crowds at her door, and says, if anything, it has brought people in who wouldn’t usually have entered the shop.
In the last few days, signs were erected along the street urging people not to sit on the kerbs and, during the daytime at least, it looked like most people were heeding their advice.
The source of the signs is a mystery, with Dublin City Council saying it was not responsible, but businesses on the street say a local pub installed them.
Other retailers were mostly negative about the packs of people that collect in the area, pointing to issues accessing shop fronts, and the fact that the majority of people who visit aren’t spending money on the street.
One business said they had to urge people to move from the front of their shop every 15 or 20 minutes, while another said they were finding hazards such as broken glass on the street, particularly on Saturday – the busiest day for many retailers.
In a statement, Dublin City Council said it was “aware” of the recent build-up of people coming to “meet, dwell and socialise” on the street.
The council said it was in the process of working with relevant parties to “keep a positive atmosphere for this street with some structure, balance and a shared sense of responsibility for all – both those that use the street and the traders in this part of town.”
