Search icon

News

21st Oct 2022

Capel Street shop owners call for council to help make pedestrianisation work

Katy Thornton

Capel Street’s pedestrianisation continues to cause debate.

 

The pedestrianisation of Capel Street came into effect earlier this year, in May. In September it was up for debate once more as businesses felt they were seeing less footfall. Some called for the pedestrianisation to only apply in the evenings.

The upset continues and businesses are still voicing their frustrations with the Capel Street pedestrianisation.

The Journal reports,

In the past five months a few tables and chairs, as well as some areas of coloured tarmac, have appeared on the street that was formerly bustling with southbound cars.

However this stretch of new tarmac ends abruptly in the middle of the street, making Capel Street’s new use appear “half developed,” according to one shop owner.

The knock-on effect of the pedestrianisation is congestion on the surrounding streets, according to Ross Bradshaw, manager in Evans Art Supplies. The Journal reports that, “Bradshaw and some other business owners have created an unofficial coalition to meet with Dublin City Council about issues like the semi-completed tarmac.

DCC agrees, saying that Capel Street as it currently stands is still unfinished and needs more work.

There will be a vote in November to determine whether Capel Street should remain pedestrianised. Although it has been a point of contention, surveys show that the majority of businesses do support the pedestrianisation of Capel Street.

Header image via Shutterstock

READ ON: 12 of the best spots in Dublin for a carvery