The €26 million redevelopment of Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market is finally getting under way, six years after it was closed by Dublin City Council.
Construction and conservation work at the 127-year-old market building close to Capel Street is scheduled to begin by June with a new retail and restaurant complex, housing at least 80 stalls, to be completed by the end of 2027.
The new facility will be a “quintessentially Irish food market” operating seven days a week to “support the city’s north retail core and highlight the food offer to locals and visitors alike”, the council said.
Shoppers can “do their weekly food shop, or dine on-site at the restaurant or traders stalls.”
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Facilities will be provided for “community growers and start-up food business” and more established local producers who will have a “direct route to market with some producing on-site” the council said.
“The new market will act as a catalyst for regeneration and new uses in the area while providing for food education and associated events.”
The revamp of the former wholesale market was first proposed by the council 23 years ago. Following three years of planning, the Markets Framework Plan was published in 2005, with the refurbishment of the market one element of a retail, apartment and office complex up to six storeys tall with a new civic square and leisure centre.
A consortium was selected for the €425 million project in 2007, and Michelin-starred restaurateur Patrick Guilbaud was reported to be “in talks” as an anchor tenant, but contracts were never signed before the financial crash hit.
In 2011, the council announced considerably more modest plans to redevelop the market as a retail and wholesale food location. The following year it began repairs to the roof and in 2013 it drafted redevelopment plans to open the new market in mid-2015.
The development again stalled when it emerged vacant possession of the hall was required for the work to take place. At that point, about a dozen wholesalers were still using the building. Following six years of negotiation with the traders, the council secured vacant possession of the building in August 2019.
The council immediately closed the market and said it would begin the tender process for a continental-style food court which it hoped to have operational by 2021.
It has remained closed since, apart from its rental to a construction company for storage, occasional one-off events, and its use by film companies.
Since its closure, the historic building has been subject to repeated vandalism with several of its old wooden doors badly damaged by fire.
In April of last year, council chief executive Richard Shakespeare said the market was scheduled to reopen in autumn 2026.
However, the council now says the work will take an additional year, with completion expected in the third quarter of 2027 at a cost of €26.4 million. An operator to manage the new market will be appointed before this date, the council said.
