Parnell Street
Parnell Street (Irish: Sráid Pharnell) is located on Dublin's Northside and runs from Capel Street in the west to Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square in the east. It is at the north end of O'Connell Street, where it provides the south side of Parnell Square.
Originally Parnell Street was part of the ancient road connecting the old city to northern coast, with Father Matthew Bridge connecting Church Street and Wood Quay in the east, to Ballybough and Fairview in the west. During the 18th century development of Amiens Street and Annesley Bridge provided a new coast road, while Parnell Street and its continuation to the east, Summerhill, became home to Georgian architecture.
The western end of Parnell Street has been substantially redeveloped in recent years. This urban regeneration came after road plans by Dublin Corporation devastated the street during the 1970s, when it was scheduled to be part of the [Inner Tangent Road scheme, massive dereliction and blight caused. Virtually all of the original Georgian architecture was destroyed and subsequently replaced by buildings of much larger scale. The eastern end of Parnell Street, having remained comparatively undeveloped, is now home to a thriving immigrant community. Most notably, a plethora of authentic Chinese and Korean restaurants have lent the east side the reputation of being Dublin's "Chinatown". There is also a significant presence of African and East and Central European businesses at the eastern end.
History and culture
Formerly Great Britain Street, the street is named after Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891) after Dublin Corporation adopted a resolution to rename the street following his death. The Rotunda Hospital, the Ambassador Theatre and the Gate Theatre are on Parnell Street itself while the Garden of Remembrance, the Dublin Writers Museum and the Hugh Lane Gallery are on the north side of the Parnell Square. The James Joyce Centre is immediately off Parnell Street on North Great Georges Street, while located just off the eastern end is the historic Mountjoy Square.
Retail & services
Shopping Centres
The Ilac Shopping Centre: The Ilac Shopping Centre is the oldest shopping centre in the city-centre. It is a large single story complex which contains many shops. Shops in the Ilac centre include Dunnes Stores, Roches Stores, Champion Sports, Jack and Jones and Argos.The Ilac Shopping Centre has many interesting and lower budget shops. One entrance leads out to Moore Street's famous market and there's also a public library inside the centre. Magnificently, this relic of 80s Ireland also houses a Chapel.
The Moore Street Mall, a recently opened shopping centre, also has an entrance on Parnell Street.
Other Retail & services
This list is far from complete:
- Good Fresh [Chinese grocery]
- Peats Electronics
- Penneys
- Dublin Supporters Bar
- Chapters Bookshop
- Eddie Rockets Restaurant
- McDonald's
- Burger King
- Paddy Power Bookmaker
- An amusements arcade in the Parnell Centre
- Jurys Hotel
- U-S Shop [Sports Clothes]
- The Wool Shed (Australian-Themed Bar)
- Fibber Magee's (Rock/Metal Bar)
- Cherries amusement arcade
- The Shakespeare Pub
- Patrick Conway's Pub (Home of the boom boom room)
- Charlies African food store
- D1 Recordings
- The Welcome Inn Bar (Open from 5:30pm to 11:30pm Mon, to Thurs. 5:30 to 12:30am Fri,& Sat,. Closed on Sundays)
- Lucky Duffy's Newsagent (Run by P. Duffy, who grew up on Parnell Street)
- Checkers Cabs
- Top Class Barbers
- Jorag Caribbean Stores
- Dave's Post Office
- Screenlink Printers
- Booze to Go
- The Hop House Asian Bar
- Dance World (Where the first steps to Stardom begin)
- TJs (The best fry on the street)
- The Kingfisher Restaurant
- Westbrook Motors
- Moore Street Plaza
- MH Ventures
- Dublin Mouldings
- The Deer's Head Bar
- Zagloba Polish Bar
- Wackers Pet Shop
- Paddys Pet Shop
- Londis
- Manions Butchers
- Whelans Butchers
- 2 Spars
- 2 Centras
- Samo Dobro Polish Food store
- Assorti Polish Food store
- The Metro Bar
- Mr Choys (Formally known as Singapore Sams, Sams, Taste Of Asia)
- Smyths Newsagents (incorporating StripTees T-Shirt printing)
- News Stop (which famously refuses, on a point of principle, to sell tobacco)
- Foley's Pharmacy - Opened in 1908. Four generations of the family and many extended relatives have contributed to its ongoing
success. Celebrating 100 years in 2008.
- Rays Barbers
Chinatown
The following is a list of Asian restaurants on the eastside:
- Abacus Chinese Restaurant
- Kimchi (Korean)
- Mr. Choy's
- Jack's
- China House
- Manna
- Hao Wang Jiao
- Yuan
- Charming Noodles
- Jing Gang Shan
- Han Yung (Korean)
- Alilang (Korean)
- Zen Win House
- Xin Luo Cheng
The Cineworld (UGC) cinema on Parnell Street is the largest cinema in Ireland with seventeen screens.
The street also has flagship city centre stores for German discount supermarket chains such as Aldi and Lidl.
Smiths Toys, Maplin Electronics and Toymaster are on Jervis Street, just off Parnell Street.
A Stringfellow's restaurant and strip club operated on Parnell Street for a number of months before closing because of poor trading performance. Various residents' associations, women's groups and Christian groups had campaigned against it, and its demise has been linked to those protests.
The street also has many other bars, restaurants and shops and internet cafes.
Old Shops/Pubs/Bars etc. that no longer trade on Parnell Street:
- Alice's Cafe
- The Ice Bar
- The Blue Lion
- Wired Internet Cafe
- Cullens Leather Goods and Shoe Repair (owned by Rita Cullen)
- Parnell Video
See also
External links
Coordinates: 53°21′09″N 6°15′42″W / 53.35250°N 6.26167°W