Dorset Street off-licence takes its business to Glasnevin

MovingShop: Finian Sweeney wanted to be part of the revival of Dorset Street, home to his family's business since the 1930s. But he feels he was forced to move. Robin O'Brien-Lynch reports

A recent trend has seen long-established Dublin businesses uproot from their traditional sites to busy suburban roads where they can offer their customers on-site car parking.

Sweeney's, an off-licence on Dorset Street, Dublin 1, is the latest to follow the trend, moving its business from Dorset Street to the start of the Finglas Road near Hart's Corner in Glasnevin.

Finian Sweeney says he made the right decision to relocate to Glasnevin where he has more than four times the space he had in Dorset Street.

"Our customers find it just as easy to get to us here and with car-parking available outside the door and 372 sq m (4,000 sq ft) of space we are able to offer a much wider selection of wines."

Finian's father Joe first started working in Dorset Street in 1937, when the shop was known as James Lynch's Grocers.

As a trainee he started off stacking shelves and in 1955 put his own name over the door. Like many traders in the area, Joe and his family lived for many years over the shop. Finian's turn to take over the business came in 1992.

Ten years later, with Dublin City Council announcing plans to revive the rundown street, Finian made some plans of his own to expand the business and consolidate Sweeney's position as one of the grand old traders of Dorset Street.

Within a month his plans were in tatters and he had no option but to look for alternative premises in Raheny, Clontarf and even as far as Sutton. He eventually found the ideal location close by in Glasnevin.

"I'll make no bones about it, I was forced out of Dorset Street and I was very bitter about it at the time," says Mr Sweeney.

"I grew up over that shop, I went to school around there, I felt at home and I knew all the people in the area. Christmas two years ago I went looking for planning permission to convert the upstairs into apartments, but we didn't get it, which was a blow.

"Our other problem was parking. It had got absolutely crazy trying to unload the stock, let alone find space for customers, and I'm sure it was the same for everyone.

"It was about the time they were trying to dicky up the street and in fairness they had huge plans. I'll always remember going to a meeting and the guy in charge there,

"God help him, he had been there since nine in the morning and it was now eight at night and he had been spooning out the same stuff to everyone all day.

"They were going to do a lovely job, redo the parking and put up bollards and have a pretty island with a few trees in the middle. A mighty fine job.

"Now we were located on one of the widest parts of the street and I was looking at the plans and I couldn't see any new loading bays. So I asked this guy, 'Where will the loading bays be?' and he couldn't answer me.

"I think the council are very well-meaning, but the different departments seem to be working independently of each other. The guy behind free flow traffic doesn't want any business along the main arteries, while somebody else is trying to preserve those businesses."

Thwarted by the council, Mr Sweeney decided to relocate and was lucky to find a suitably large premises between Hart's Corner and Glasnevin Cemetery.

With so much storage and floor space available, parking front and rear, room for wine tasting and wine courses and a two-storey walk-in humidor, Mr Sweeney is delighted with his new premises.

"The feeling of space is great, people can spend as long as they want just browsing, and we can stock so many more lines," he says. "We had no choice but to go but now I'm actually glad we moved . . . I found a place I really wanted.

"Meanwhile, there's a gap on Dorset Street, and no doubt it will be filled by more offices. The area is losing its soul."