Temple Bar is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in Dublin. It’s promoted as both Dublin’s cultural heart and also as a tourist epicentre in the city. If you’re a tourist keen for a taste of nightlife in Dublin, you’ll probably head for Temple Bar.
The area is named after Sir William Temple and his son John Temple. William built his house and gardens in the area originally and John developed the temple bar – the wall to hold back the banks of the River Liffey. (A “barr” traditionally being a raised estuary sandbank that you could walk on.) By the mid-1900s the area had fallen into huge disrepair and the government set up a non-profit organisation in 1991 to oversee the (now successful) redevelopment of the area.
The most famous pubs in the area are The Palace Bar, The Temple Bar Pub, Oliver St. John Gogarty’s, and The Auld Dubliner. The Porterhouse Bar and brewery only serves their own craft beer on tap but serves bottles of other craft beers from around the world. But if you’re not in the mood for a drink, it’s also home to the Irish Photography Centre, the Project Arts Centre, the Irish Film Institute, the Central Bank of Ireland and the Irish Stock Exchange. It’s also packed with boutiques and cute coffee shops.
I loved the area because it was so colourful. Oliver St John Gogarty’s was a particular favourite of mine and that’s why I took dozens of photos of it.
There’s a book market there every Saturday and Sunday from 11am-6pm and I’m sad that I missed it! There’s also a huge food market in Meeting House Square every Saturday.
This concludes my travel posts on Dublin. If you missed any you can catch up with my guide to Dublin or my post on Trinity Library.
Have you visited the Temple Bar area of Dublin? Any sights not to miss?
