Grafton Street, Dublin – shops and buskers

Overview

Bono busked here. So did Glen Hansard, Damien Rice, Keywest and Rodrigo y Gabriela, all of them working the crowd on Grafton Street before they filled rooms anyone had heard of. That busking tradition is the real character of Dublin’s best-known shopping street, and these days it is tightly run: performers are confined to five designated pitches, need a €30 annual city-council permit, and get one-hour sets between 11am and 11pm on a strict rotation.

The street runs roughly 500 m from the leafy expanse of St Stephen’s Green down to Trinity College, all of it pedestrianised. It is one of the world’s most expensive retail streets, and it carries about 8,800 pedestrians an hour (a 2017 count), rising to tens of thousands on a busy day. Locals call the St Stephen’s Green end the ‘top’, because it sits higher, and the College Green end the ‘bottom’.

If you want the best of it, arrive on the hour to catch a full busking set from a fresh act, then duck into Bewley’s for coffee under the Harry Clarke windows. The shopping is largely chains you can find anywhere; the buskers and the café are what make it Grafton Street.

A brief history

The street began as a modest country lane, widened by Dublin Corporation in 1708 and fully laid out by 1727. It takes its name from Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, an illegitimate grandson of King Charles II who owned land here. Fashionable and largely residential at first, its character shifted after Carlisle Bridge (now O’Connell Bridge) opened in 1758 and tied it into a cross-city route.

By the 19th century the street had fallen on hard times and gained a rough reputation, with an estimated 1,500 sex workers plying their trade there in the 1870s. The turn of the 20th century brought a commercial revival, anchored by Brown Thomas (established 1848) and the jewellers Weir & Sons (1869). Later came the first Irish McDonald’s in 1977 and the UK high-street chains. Pedestrianisation was first trialled for a few weeks in September 1971 and, despite objections from some traders, made permanent on 1 December 1982, giving the street its present car-free form.

Shopping and retail

Grafton Street bills itself as ‘Ireland’s premier trading street’, with a dense run of shops:

• Brown Thomas – Ireland’s flagship department store has held its grand Grafton Street premises since 1848, with designer fashion, luxury beauty, a café and much-photographed seasonal windows.
• Weir & Sons – A fifth-generation family jeweller dealing in antique pieces, watches, silver, leather goods and fine china.
• Disney Store – Towards the top of the street, a reliable stop for families.
• High-street and specialist retail – Long-standing names like River Island, Levi’s, Holland & Barrett, Lifestyle Sports and Card Gallery sit alongside numerous fashion and lifestyle brands.

Cafés, pubs and dining

The street and its side lanes are packed with places to eat, from historic tearooms to modern spots:

• Bewley’s Café – Open since 1926, behind an Egyptian Revival mosaic shopfront, and famous for its Harry Clarke stained-glass windows and hand-roasted coffee. It was a haunt of James Joyce, Patrick Kavanagh, Samuel Beckett and Seán O’Casey, and remains a Dublin institution.
• Butler’s Chocolate Café – From the Irish chocolatier, with premium hot chocolates, desserts and gift boxes.
• Gino’s Gelato – Italian gelato technique with Irish organic milk, plus crêpes and waffles.
• Lemon & Duke – On adjacent Duke Lane, an award-winning spot for gourmet sandwiches, salads and cocktails.
• Bunsen – A local favourite for pared-back burgers built on Aberdeen Angus beef.
• Xi’An Street Food – Shaanxi-style cooking, including hand-pulled Biang Biang noodles.
• Captain America’s – Running since 1971, serving American-style burgers, fajitas and steaks.

The busking scene

Since pedestrianisation, Grafton Street has grown one of the best-known busking circuits anywhere, thanks to the foot traffic and the way sound carries between the shopfronts. The competition for the five pitches is fierce, and many musicians who went on to fill arenas started here, U2’s Bono among them; his stage name is said to have come partly from the Bonavox hearing-aid shop on the street. Arrive on the hour for the best chance of a full set from a new act. If you like what you hear, a tip of €2 or €3 is standard, though staying to listen is the real compliment.

Winter and festive highlights

Grafton Street changes character in winter. Each November roughly 300,000 lights are strung across it in a glittering canopy, and the lower end near Trinity carries a large illuminated ‘Nollaig Shona Duit’ (Merry Christmas) sign that is a favourite for photos. Brown Thomas unveils elaborate Christmas windows that pull crowds from across the city. It is at its most atmospheric and its most crowded at once, so go early if you want room to move.

Getting there and practical information

• Pedestrian access – The street is closed to private traffic from 11am to 6am daily; commercial deliveries run only between 6am and 11am.
• Accessibility – The whole shopping stretch is wheelchair-friendly, with smooth paving and tactile guidance at crossings. Public toilets are inside St Stephen’s Green and several nearby hotels.
• Parking – Grafton Car Park on Clarendon Street (380 spaces, Mon–Sat 7am–midnight, Sun 9am–midnight) has a direct pedestrian bridge to Brown Thomas; Q-Park Dawson Street and Drury Street Car Park are also close.
• Public transport – The Luas Green Line stops at St Stephen’s Green and Trinity, at either end of the street. Dublin Bus routes 14, 15, 27 and 61 also serve the area.
• Opening hours – Most shops run 10am to 6pm or 7pm, with extended Christmas hours; cafés and restaurants generally open early until late. St Stephen’s Green is open 7.30am to dusk Monday to Saturday, and 9.30am to dusk on Sundays and bank holidays.
• Where to stay – Hotels line the street or sit within a two-minute walk, from five-star names like The Shelbourne and The Westbury to boutique options such as Brooks Hotel and The Fitzwilliam.

Nearby attractions

Grafton Street sits at the crossroads of Dublin’s cultural quarter. A short walk in any direction leads to:

• St Stephen’s Green – A 22-acre Victorian park with monuments, a sensory garden and summer bandstand concerts. The Fusiliers’ Arch (1907) at the street’s top entrance commemorates the Royal Dublin Fusiliers killed in the Second Boer War.
• Trinity College – Home to the Book of Kells and one of Ireland’s oldest universities.
• Abbey Theatre – Ireland’s national theatre, a few minutes’ walk north.
• National Gallery of Ireland – One of Europe’s finest collections of Irish and European art, over on Merrion Square.
• Historic pubs – Step into the city’s literary past at Neary’s (est. 1880s), Kehoe’s (licensed 1803) and McDaid’s, a former city morgue turned bohemian haunt frequented by Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh.