Words: John Hyland / Photos: Evan Buggle
Surrounded by the drudgery of officialdom—the courts, the probation service, the motor tax office—Smithfield isn’t a place you expect to find such vibrance. It’s become home to some spectacular pubs and cafés, talented and creative people, and that horrible fake Christmas tree that used to inflict itself on O’Connell Street until recently. As a pedestrianised plaza, a rare find in Dublin, it allows for unusual dynamics. In fine weather barristers eat sandwiches on the benches, and kids play on the few playground toys. Throughout the year people feed the pigeons by the grassy knoll. The square plays host to the horse fair, and held a hastily organised screening of Dublin’s all-Ireland victory. Smithfield has heaps of potential, which is steadily being drawn out by both newcomers and old hands alike.
Jameson Distillery
“The tower’s not actually ours,” Kate says, “although even a lot of the guide books seem to think so.” The Old Jameson Distillery is set back from Smithfield Square, dominated by this misattributed tower, but it has been central to the development of the area. When it was first set up as a producing distillery, Kate tells me, the area started to evolve around it. The city-centre location eventually became too cramped for the scale of production required, so the distilling operations moved elsewhere, but the building’s rebirth as a tourist attraction seems to mirror Smithfield’s emergence from relative obscurity into a popular destination. With visitor numbers in the hundreds of thousands, the distillery is a serious draw to the area, but I wonder about a sense of competition with the Guinness Storehouse. Kate says it’s very common for tour groups to go to both on the same day, given the proximity, and that there’s no sense of animosity between them. “Just like Jameson and Guinness are different, the Old Jameson Distillery and the Storehouse offer very different things. Our guided tour through the distilling process tells a much more personal story.”
Generator Hostel
“Obviously it’s a bit quieter in the winter. But it’s never quiet,” Louise explains over the noise of a group setting off for the day. “We get a good mix of visitors from abroad and from other parts of Ireland. Lots of groups up from Sligo IT, the Galway colleges, that sort of thing. We get lots of party groups from other countries, too. Stag and hen parties from England, Scotland and Wales. You could think it was a nightclub when you come in here some mornings, with those groups having pints at the bar. It’s much better than a hotel for that. There’s more space, it’s more fun and it’s a better atmosphere with younger people. It’s a great place to work, and I feel really luck to have gotten the job.” The barman explains the Mrs Doyle cocktail to us—Earl Grey-infused Jameson, lemon juice and sugar syrup, on the rocks. “It was invented by Peter here, and he infused the Jameson with the tea himself—two spoonfuls of tea leaves in a bottle for a week and then strained out. It wouldn’t be my favourite, personally, but it’s very popular with the visitors.”
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The Lighthouse
Gavin excitedly details the plans the Lighthouse has for the coming months: the Christmas films you might expect, and ones you wouldn’t, and a Coen Brothers season starting in the new year, leading up to the release of their latest film. Since the Lighthouse’s rescue and reopening two years ago, the focus has changed a bit. “I think it was realised that we couldn’t just show high-arthouse films. So now we’re embracing everything. We just show films we love and we love all different sorts,” Gavin tells us. “We’re also scheduling more films that we can hold events around, either with themed parties or a guest speaker at the screening, like Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright at the premiere of The World’s End. Hopefully we’ll have a Big Lebowski party during the Coen Brothers season.” Gavin says that there’s a great sense of community between the different businesses in the Smithfield area. “The Damn Fine Print Company working out of Block T have been collaborating with us on a few of the cult film screenings, and have produced some great posters.” There have also been after-parties for some of the screenings in Block T’s space, and in L. Mulligan Grocer’s in nearby Stoneybatter.
Jill has been working in the Lighthouse for a few months. “I like that there’s interaction between the different places in Smithfield,” she tells us. “I’m working here, but I’ve also got the use of some space in Block T where some of us are writing a television screenplay. We’ve never done it before, so it’s a little bit experimental.”
It’s obvious that there’s a lot of creativity in Smithfield, and it’s heartening to see that the Lighthouse seems to have found its feet again. With a diversified programme, and eager connections with the rest of the business community, it has set itself apart from the other cinemas in town.
Block B, Haymarket
In the lane behind the Lighthouse, we stumble upon a TV3 camera crew filming for an Xpose feature on Shutterbug‘s pop-up Kilo Sale, a vintage sale with clothes sold €20 per kilo. Shutterbug is a Kilkenny-based vintage shop but has so many customers in Dublin, owner Blanaid Hennessy tells us, that they try to have plenty of pop-up sales in the capital. The space is massive, and it needs to be, with thousands of shoppers expected in the first hour alone to grab the best bargains. This is the first time that Shutterbug has used this space, which they got with help from Joe in Block T—which uses it for their Christmas market—but Blanaid hopes to be back next year if the sale is a success.
The ground floor in this building, and the one of the building across the lane from it, stand conspicuously empty most of time, having never attracted tenants after the area’s Celtic Tiger development. So while the purposes for which this space was originally intended was never realised, they’ve found new leases of life in temporary use. This probably doesn’t provide the return on investment that the owners would like, but it certainly lends an element of dynamism to the area.
Block T
And so, all roads in Smithfield apparently lead to Block T, who seem to have more pies than they have fingers to put in them. A reclaimed office block that once housed the probation service, Block T is home to a seething mass of artists, designers, developers, musicians and plenty of other creative types. We met the managing director, Laura, very briefly so she can apologise profusely to us for being so run off her feet with preparations for the Damn Fine Print exhibition. Laura did find time to introduce us to some of the Block T members, Bettine and Donal.
Bettine is one of the people behind the festival Knockanstockan, and has been based in Block T for about a year. “Anywhere across Dublin, you get a great reception when you say you’re in Block T. The great reputation really precedes it,” she tells us. “The open days, once or twice a year, give people a chance to come in and see what all the members are doing, and I think it makes people pretty eager to move in.” There’s a big emphasis on skill-sharing and cross-pollination. “We do a lot of things together, too, like going to gigs in Generator, stuff in Dice Bar or Frank Ryan’s. And it’s great professionally. Running a festival, I have the opportunity to meet all sorts of people here that can do something at Knockanstockan.”
It was Donal’s first day when we spoke to him, and he seemed delighted to be taking up residence. “Seventy7 is our web design company. We’re just starting off in lots of ways, and it’s exciting to be around some many people doing different things,” Donal tells us. “People here are so happy to share what they no. There’s no sense of competition or anything.”
Cinnamon
The Cinnamon café sits at the Liffey end of Smithfield Square, and is run by Niall and Sinead. “We’ve been here for nine years,” Niall, who also lives in the area, tells us. “Most of our customers are from the courts or the legal firms, but Generator has brought a lot of new people in, too.” Niall worries that the square is squandered as an amenity, though. “It can be a bit dead at night, sometimes. Some new restaurant openings are livening it up, but it should be used for more events. It’s a market square, too, so it’s a shame we don’t have a proper market on it every week.” He tells us that Block T have brought a lot of fresh blood into the area, and are very good about organising events. “Their Christmas market is brilliant, they really know how to run it. Them and Complex, the theatre group, are great about trying to get more use out of the spaces available here.” Niall returns to the point that there ought to be a regular market in the square. “Every other big European city has a great market, and we don’t. And I don’t mean an artisan food market. I think in Ireland we sometimes get a bit fixated on that sort of thing. An old-fashioned flea market would be great.”
The Complex
Complex used to have an arts centre on the square itself, before they were evicted by NAMA when the building was repossessed, resulting in a court case and a feature on Primetime. Vanessa spoke about the changes that the square has gone through. “The City Council made some improvements, but the project was so long that it killed the chances of doing events on the square for ages.” Complex were in the square 15 years ago, so knew it before the facelift. “It certainly cleaned up well, but lost a bit of its edginess. Compared to what it was like before it’s been anaesthetised. The square enjoys a mix of lots of different communities, and lots of new people have moved in. I think that it could occupy a really good place if some events could bring that mixed bag together more. It’s a pity that the Council seems reticent to take up proposals for events at the moment. I think they’re worried about the new set-up not working, so they want to go gently.”
The Cobblestone
One of the oldest Smithfield institutions, the Cobblestone has seen more birthdays than I have, and plenty of the square’s evolution, too. Tom, the owner tells us how different the area used to be, showing us an old photo. “That used to be a piggery there behind the bar, and when they moved out to Rathfarnham, all the rats came pouring out like a massive carpet,” he tells us jovially. “Development definitely gentrified the square, and maybe some of the buildings are still underused, but they used to be warehouses full of scrap metal, so it’s much better now.” His clientele has shifted over time, too. “We used to open at seven in the morning, and we’d get people who were coming out of the hostels, and lots of people from the newspapers who did the overnight shift, and from the hospital too. Now we get a lot of tourists. Tourists were always asking for Irish beers, not stuff like Budweiser and Carlsberg, so that’s why we carry a lot of Irish craft beers now.”
One of the things that the Cobblestone if probably better know for is the traditional music sessions. “We run pay-in gigs in the back room, and then musicians play—non-commercially, if you like—in the bar at the front.” Tom has nothing but warm words for the newer arrivals to Smithfield. “Christophe’s in by the Jameson Distillery is great, and it’s a lovely crowd that run Third Space, and that new place Oscar’s is great, too. They’ve all brought life into the area.”
