Fleet Street () is a street on the southside of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Located in the

Dublin 2 Dublin 2, also rendered as D2 and D02, is a historic postal district on the southside of Dublin, Ireland. In the 1960s, this central district became a focus for office development. More recently, it became a focus for urban residential developme ...

area, Fleet Street runs eastwards, parallel to the

River Liffey The River Liffey ( Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the Riv ...

, through Temple Bar, across

Westmoreland Street Westmoreland Street is a street on the Southside of Dublin. It is currently a one-way street. It carries a segment of the R138 road for northbound traffic; nearby D'Olier Street carries southbound traffic of that segment. Location It is o ...

D'Olier Street D'Olier Street ( ) is a street in the southern city-centre of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. It and Westmoreland Street are two broad streets whose northern ends meet at the southern end of O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffey. Its southern ...

History

The street formerly marked the southern edge of the

, and was known in

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

as ''Sráid na Toinne'' ("street of the waves"). Its name may refer to the "fleet" of ships that moored along it, or it may be imitative of

Fleet Street, London Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

; many streets on Dublin's southside are named for London streets, and Dublin's Fleet Street is east of Dublin's Temple Bar, just as London's Fleet Street is east of London's Temple Bar. In 1902, Irish revolutionary

Kevin Barry Kevin Gerard Barry (20 January 1902 – 1 November 1920) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence. He was sentenced to death for his part in an attack upon a Brit ...

was born at number 8, Fleet Street, where his father ran a dairy business.O'Donovan, Donal. ''Kevin Barry and His Time'', Glendale, Dublin, 1989; , at p.15. In the 1970s, it was home to Sloopy's, Ireland's first

discotheque A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gene ...

. Although a wealthy area, and a centre of furniture-making, Fleet Street went into decline in the 20th century and in the 1980s was set to be demolished, and a bus terminus built in its place. Instead it was revived as a cultural area. Today it is known for its many pubs, cafés and restaurants, including the

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and r ...

, the Oliver St. John Gogarty, Bowes, and The Palace Bar. Fleet Street also contains the Irish HQ of Amnesty International, at

Seán MacBride Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish Clann na Poblachta politician who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 19 ...

House. In 2022, travel website The World Bucket List ranked Fleet Street as one of Europe's 15 most beautiful streets, calling it "the capital city’s most bustling street ��A picturesque

cobbled Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fr ...

street, Fleet Street comes alive at night and encapsulates the

craic ''Craic'' ( ) or ''crack'' is a term for news, gossip, fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland. It is often used with the definite article – ''the'' craic – as in the expression "What's the craic ...

and hospitality that Ireland is known for."

Cultural references

Fleet Street appears several times in the work of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

: in " The Boarding House" he mentions "Jack Mooney, the Madam’s son, who was clerk to a commission agent in Fleet Street", while in "

Counterparts Counterpart or Counterparts may refer to: Entertainment and literature * "Counterparts" (short story), by James Joyce * Counterparts, former name for the Reel Pride LGBT film festival * ''Counterparts'' (film), a 2007 German drama * ''Counterp ...

" he mentions "Terry Kelly’s pawn-office in Fleet Street". In ''Ulysses'', Leopold Bloom stands at "Fleet street crossing."

Gallery

File:Electric culture (8114245971).jpg, Electricity substation at junction with Bedford Row File:HRC in dublin.JPG, Hard Rock Café at junction with Aston Place File:20130807 dublin052.JPG, Oliver St. John Gogarty pub and restaurant Corner of Fleet and Bedford St Dublin - panoramio.jpg, Streetscape

References

{{Streets in Dublin city, state=autocollapse Streets in Dublin (city)

History

Cultural references

Gallery

See also

References