The old building housing the wholesale and retail fruit and vegetable market in Smithfield will be demolished and the area developed for new residential and commercial use. The property deal marks the end of an era for local residents, reports Ian Kilroy
Next Thursday will bring the end of an era, with the closure of Dublin's Smithfield fruit market as we now know it.
The old building housing the wholesale and retail fruit and vegetable outlet, owned by brothers Joe and John Wickham, will soon fall to the wreckers' ball - a consequence of the further development of the wider Smithfield area.
Under a deal made with Fusano Properties Ltd, the property owned by the Wickhams will be demolished and developed into a new Smithfield market outlet, as well as being developed for new residential and commercial use, says John Wickham of Smithfield Fruit Market.
"We're going to close the business, take a couple of years off and plan the new scheme back in the same location, where we'll return," he says.
According to Mr Wickham, the new scheme should be finished within two years, and will be substantially different to the current market, in that the wholesale side of the business will be dropped. He adds that "the new market will be more tourist-orientated. The function of it will be to provide services to the day shopper, or for the museum visitor when the Smithfield development is completed with its new museum and apartments."
Under Fusano's plans, the currently derelict west side of Smithfield Square will be developed into a complex comprising 328 apartments, almost 8,000 sq metres of offices, 5,000 sq metres of retail and leisure facilities, as well as 6,500 sq metres earmarked for an as yet unspecified cultural use.
A National Science Museum or a Children's Museum are just two of the uses being considered for the cultural anchor project at the heart of the development, and the Wickhams' new premises will be part of that overall development, located in the north-western side of the square.
With archaeological exploration of the site over, work will begin on the development in the next few weeks, says Mr Joe Linders of Fusano.
City architect, Mr Jim Barrett, is less convinced about the future of fruit and vegetable trading in the Smithfield area. "I wouldn't see much hope for market trading up in that zone in the future," he says.
Dublin City Council's idea is to redevelop the red-brick, Victorian wholesale market on Mary's Lane, between Capel Street and Church Street, into a retail outlet. It will not be possible to continue the wholesale distribution business currently in operation in the market, with its forklifts and heavy truck traffic, when the Luas line is up and running through the area next year, says Mr Barrett. Wholesale distribution will have to move out to the city outskirts, he says.
The plans have already been drawn up by Dublin City Council to construct a new civic square around the existing Victorian market on Mary's Lane, which is a listed building, with new apartment blocks and retail outlets forming the square around the existing site.
The first change will be the demolition of the Fish Market building on Mary's Lane, where an early morning fish market takes place - the building doubles as a car-park during the day.
According to Mr Barrett, the Fish Market will be knocked within the next two years, but will be rebuilt as a fish market to the south of the new square which is envisaged, complete with an underground car park for 500 cars.
"The idea is that this area will punctuate the half-way stage between Capel Street and Smithfield along the Luas line . . . Luas will bring these neighbourhoods closer to the city," says Mr Barrett.
With the plan to focus the markets business in Mary's Lane, not only is there a doubt over Wickham's traditional business returning to Smithfield, but there will also be repercussions for market trading on Moore Street.
Most of the produce sold on Moore Street comes at reduced prices from the Mary's Lane wholesale suppliers. When that wholesale business moves out to the suburbs and the Dublin Corporation Market, as the Mary's Lane market is known, moves over to retail, Moore Street traders will no longer have a local supplier.
In addition, the all-new Dublin Corporation Market will be the new centre for market trade in the city, taking customers away from the traditional Moore Street traders. Mr Barrett acknowledges that "there will be knock-on effects", saying that "the Moore Street traders are very much dependent on the wholesale markets".
In recent years, Moore Street has been given added life, with asylum seekers and refugees joining in the business and rejuvenating a waning trade in the area.
It is possible that such business will continue to animate the street, even in the event of the traditional fruit and vegetable trade gradually disappearing.
Whatever happens to Moore Street, however, it is clear that change is on the way - Dublin City Council has plans to partly roof-over the street, with the roofing on either side of the street, leaving the centre open to the air.
As for the closing of Smithfield Fruit Market next Thursday, Smithfield residents are less than overjoyed by the prospect.
As one resident, Cathy Sherwin, of the Smithfield Working Group, says, "The market will be missed. It'll mean going to a supermarket now, paying over the odds. It was a lot cheaper than the supermarkets and the quality was good. I just hope it comes back and will still be affordable to the people of Smithfield, and not too upmarket."