SHREWSBURY ROAD is a lot quieter these days with some of its best known residents either lying low or having moved out altogether thanks to the economic downturn.

The latest to exit the leafy confines is property developer Paddy Kelly, who has moved into an apartment in the Docklands having rented out his house on the road to an embassy. The house had been quietly on the market for over a year through Lisneybut, with an asking price "north of €30 million", there was little serious interest.

Meanwhile, financier Derek Quinlan, another former stalwart of the Shrewsbury Road Residents' Association, with no less than three houses on the road, has mystified friends and contacts by changing his telephone numbers, making it even more difficult for people to get in touch with him in his adopted home of Switzerland.