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Openers

25th Mar 2022

Dublin’s oldest shop has been reimagined into a café and patisserie

Katy Thornton

Dublin’s oldest shop has been around for 350+ years and has just reopened to the public.

Operating on and off since 1670, Dublin’s oldest shop is officially back open on Parliament Street. The former Reads Cutlers  has been re-established as a café, patisserie and furniture shop in 2022. House of Read, as it’s known now, is home to fine foods and tableware, and is the result of an extensive restoration project.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbfBPd3Ae1Z/

According to the website:

To step in to House of Read is to step in to a shop interior that would be recognisable to the customers who made purchase here in the eighteenth century as it is Dublin’s oldest Merchant House and Shop.”

That’s quite remarkable when you think about it. With connections to the Guinness family, the Reads and their shop were, “world renowned for the manufacture and sale of tableware, cutlery, swords and instruments for over 340 years for Dublin’s nobility, gentry and grand tourists.” It’s great to see much of the store’s original purpose remains after so long.

The Gutter Bookshop welcomed the shop back on Twitter, delighted to see it back open for the public.

As Dublin’s oldest shop, House of Read is definitely a spot you need to pop into soon; for a coffee, a wander, and most of all, to experience a preserved slice of history.

House of Read opens Monday to Sunday from 8am to 5pm.

Header image via Instagram/houseofread.ie

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