The cellar of Temple Bar in Dublin city centre would normally be stacked head-high with enough kegs of Guinness to serve thousands of pints on St. Patrick’s Day - but not today.
Picutres from EarthCam - who are providing a livestream on YouTube of the famous cobblestone streets with only a few people in sight - show here that there's more Deliveroo drivers and pigeons about as pubs spend a second Paddy’s Day shut.
And with the Christmas decorations still up above the Temple Bar pub on a street that should be “dubh le daoine,” Dublin’s central district has been suffering as coronavirus cancelled the biggest day of the year for Irish publicans.
Huge crowds usually heave into the city, and pubs are usually jammed with locals and many tourists.
But the global pandemic has brought Ireland's shamrock-themed celebration to a halt, as many pubs within the district never even got the chance to reopen since last March.
Reflecting on the memories (or none) that the street provided, here are some tweets that spoke of times in the tourist hotspot before COVID.
One user said: “6 years ago today I was going to see all time low in the Olympia and fainted walking through temple bar because it was that crowded like you literally couldn’t move and I’m claustrophobic and the guards had to drag me out of the crowd lmao.”
Another said: “Cans in yer pyjamas on the sofa doesn't quite match up to lepping round Temple Bar with a proper pint of the black stuff does it? #StPatricksDayAtHome
Someone else tweeted: “It is a shame that we miss out on so many traditional St. Patrick's Day activities, like stepping over rivers of vomit in Temple Bar.”
This comes after publicans appealed for help from the Government as they’re spending a second St. Patrick’s Day in lockdown.
March 17 is usually one of the busiest periods for Dublin's famous pubs as travellers come from all over the world to celebrate Paddy's Day.
The Temple Bar Company is a group that represents businesses in the area and they are calling for a city centre recovery plan.
More than 2,600 jobs have been lost in the area, which includes hundreds of musicians.
There has also been a €200 million loss in turnover because of the pandemic closure.
And around one million euro per week is lost to the exchequer as a result of a closed Temple Bar.
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