Overview
When it opened in 1881 as the South City Markets, this was Dublin’s first purpose-built shopping centre – a red-brick Gothic-Victorian pile taking up a full block off South Great George’s Street, bounded by Fade, Drury and Exchequer Streets. Inside, a vaulted glass roof on cast-iron brackets throws daylight down over terracotta colonnettes and conical-capped turrets, and more than forty independent traders work the covered promenade. It’s free to walk through, it’s dry when it’s raining, and it’s the most characterful short cut between Grafton Street and the Creative Quarter.
A Victorian landmark
The markets replaced the older Castle Markets on the site. A design competition in the 1870s went to the British firm Lockwood & Mawson, and the building went up between 1878 and 1881, opened by Lord Mayor Sir George Moyers. Dubliners were slow to warm to it at first – the appointment of English architects didn’t help.
Then, on 27 August 1892, fire gutted the interior. No one was killed and the outer walls held, and the Irish architect William Henry Byrne handled the rebuild, keeping the Victorian façade and lining the inside with brick-fronted shops. It reopened on 13 September 1894 and has traded ever since. The Layden Family Group bought it in 1992 and has looked after it since.
The shops
This is the reason to come: independent traders you won’t find on the high street. Stokes Books deals in second-hand and antiquarian titles, Spindizzy Records in vinyl, and there’s vintage and secondhand clothing at Retro and Flip, gifts and cards at New Moon, a barber (Blindeye), and a scatter of jewellery, antiques and Irish design stalls in between. The high ceilings and stone floor give the whole thing a gallery feel, and it rewards a slow browse rather than a targeted dash.
For a bite, Simon’s Place does long-standing coffee-shop fare and Lolly & Cooks handles sandwiches and bakes; a Dunnes Stores anchors one end. Traders change over time, so treat any list as a snapshot. If you’d rather sit outside the arcade, the surrounding stretch of South Great George’s Street and Drury Street is thick with cafés.
Getting there and access
The arcade is a five-minute walk from most of the south-city centre. The nearest Luas stops are St Stephen’s Green and Dawson, both on the Green Line. Dublin Bus routes including the 15 and 65 serve South Great George’s Street.
There’s no car park on site. On-street parking nearby is limited and dear (roughly €4–9 an hour), so the St Stephen’s Green car park is the practical choice. Access inside is good – the main entrances are level and the market hall has a flat stone floor fine for wheelchairs and buggies – but a few individual shop doorways keep original steps or uneven thresholds, so check ahead if that matters.
Nearby
Within a short walk you can reach:
- Grafton Street: Dublin’s main shopping street, buskers and all.
- Temple Bar: the cultural quarter of pubs, restaurants and galleries, just across Dame Street.
- Christ Church Cathedral: Norman architecture from the 12th century, ten minutes west.
- St Stephen’s Green: the city’s best-known park, at the top of Grafton Street.
- Abbey Theatre: Ireland’s national theatre, north across the Liffey.
Live music and pop-up events turn up in the central hall now and then. It’s free to enter and open daily; individual shops keep their own hours, so for anything specific check the George’s Street Arcade website before a special trip.