St Patrick's Street is the main shopping street of the city of Cork in the south of Ireland. Since its redevelopment in 2004, it has twice won the award as Ireland's best shopping street. St Patrick's Street is colloquially known to some locals as "Pana".
Location
St Patrick's Street runs in a curve from Saint Patrick's Bridge to Daunt Square, where it meets Grand Parade. The street obtains its curved shape due to its location over an arm of the River Lee.
History
The street dates from the late 18th Century as the city expanded beyond the walls of the ancient city which was centered on North & South Main Street. During the 1780s many of the streets that now form the city centre of Cork were formed by the spanning of the river channels between the islands of the Lee. Parts of Patrick Street were extensively damaged during the Irish War of Independence in an event known as the "Burning of Cork" in 1920. This included the Munster Arcade and Grant's department store. From 1898 to 1931, the street was served by the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company. Services started on 22 December 1898, however it closed on 30 September 1931 due to increasing popularity of bus services operated by The Irish Omnibus Company, and the takeover of the company's electricity plant by the Electricity Supply Board. In 2004, the street was redeveloped by architect Beth Gali in order to make the street more friendly to pedestrians. This included repaving of the street and widening of pedestrian pavements in order to create plazas. Between March and April 2018, Cork City Council banned afternoon traffic on Patrick Street, with only public transport traffic allowed between 3:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. This was lifted within a few weeks due to a reported impact on city centre traders.
Businesses and landmarks
The street is home to a number of retail and department stores, including Brown Thomas, Dunnes Stores, Marks & Spencer and Penneys, at the northern end of the street. The Roches Stores building, built at the northern end of the street in the mid 1920s, housed the Roches Stores department store from the early 20th century until leased by Debenhams Ireland, who operated it from 2006 until 2020. The opposite end of the street includes smaller units, with jewellery stores such as Pandora, video game stores like GameStop, and health store Holland & Barrett. In the early 21st century, the street saw various modernisation and rejuvenation projects. These included the opening of Opera Lane in 2010, the redesigning of shop facades in 2016, and the development of the former Capitol Cinema site in 2017. A monument to Fr. Theobald Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance, stands at the northern end of the street facing St. Patrick's Bridge over the River Lee. The monument dates back to October 1864.
