The Tourist Guide 1
Cork ALIVE ALIVE OH - The return of Dublin’s mark
et culture. Text: Paul Fitzgerald As visitors to any of the major cities in Europe will attest, one of their must-see, must-do activities is a few hours spent lazily trawling through the bric-a-brac of that city’s market. Be it London’s Portobello Road, Spitalfields, Brick Lane or Camden markets, the vast Parisian market in Saint-Ouen – Porte De Clignancourt or Berlin’s Flohmarkt am Mauerpark, a day spent in the midst of bargain hunters in this kind of atmosphere can tell as much about the daily life of a city as any guide, museum or attraction. 4 Although Dublin had a thriving market scene pre independence, the latter decades of the 20th century saw the more traditional markets diminish rapidly with only the fruit, veg and flower market in Moore Street - also the site of a very important shoot out in the 1916 Easter Rising - and the Dandelion flea market in Pembroke Place/Leeson Lane/Stephens Green prominently holding court. The Dandelion vanished when the builders moved in to create the St Stephens Green shopping centre monstrosity - though not before a very young Dublin band called U2 played some legendary shows there - and Moore St eventually dwindled down from over 100 stall holders to the sparse few that currently operate down its narrow street. Others have come and gone, some have stayed around - small ones like Georges St Arcade, Blackrock, People’s Park Dun Laoghaire and Liberty most notably - while other landmark sites such as the Iveagh and Smithfield markets wait in earnest while the cities councillors endlessly procrastinate.