072 Audi Magazine _ Dublin 2.0. Dublin 2.0. Writer EMMA BARLOW Photographer GREG FUNNELL

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1 072 Audi Magazine _ Dublin Dublin 2.0 Writer EMMA BARLOW Photographer GREG FUNNELL

2 074 Audi Magazine _ Dublin Something exciting is happening in Dublin. New and interesting ways to eat, drink and shop are finding a home alongside an emerging hub for the world s leading technology firms

3 076 Audi Magazine _ Dublin Right in the middle of the city of Dublin you will find the postcode Dublin 2. My room overlooks Grand Canal Square. This 8 million development was opened in 2007, just before the global recession, but is now really finding its feet as a home for both culture and some of the most progressive technology companies in the world. From my window I can see the building occupied by the technology giant Google and Facebook Ireland s headquarters, as well as the stunning Bord Gais Energy Theatre. And just out of sight from my room are the premises of internet heavyweights Airbnb, LinkedIn and Yahoo all of which have made the Docklands their home, helping to underline the district s fashionable reputation. If you ve ever visited Ireland, it s very likely you will have spent time in this area south of the River Liffey because its borders enclose some of Dublin s biggest tourist attractions including the bustling pubs of Temple Bar, the grand architecture of Trinity College and Dublin s medieval castle. Of course, these Irish icons remain but among the selfie sticks and pub-crawls, a new kind of Dublin is emerging. Alongside new restaurants and Scandinavianinspired homeware stores, there is a technology hub that is springing up from what was once a wasteland of abandoned docks. You could say that Dublin 2 is upgrading and starting a new life as Dublin 2.0. The Marker Hotel in the heart of Dublin Docklands is a symbol of this transformation. The capital s newest five-star hotel, with its chequerboard front glinting in the sunlight, is in an area that even most Dubliners wouldn t have visited until relatively recently. Now guests are willing to pay more than 200 a night for the privilege. If you d asked me five years ago what that area was like, I couldn t have told you, says Coman Kenny from Tourism Ireland. Now the whole area has come alive through regeneration and innovation. It goes to show that Dublin hasn t stood still it s thriving. Inside The Marker, an undulating ceiling runs the length of the building and is meant to bring to mind the island s unique landscapes. Guests can relax, eat and drink beneath this impressive canopy either in the bar or in the airy brasserie. One floor up from the reception and restaurant and the atmosphere changes completely. This mezzanine level is home to the spa, a tranquil and cave-like space where a swimming pool, sauna, steam room and a range of treatments are waiting. The bedrooms, of course, are no less luxurious, with marble bathrooms and under-floor heating. (Clockwise from above) Café and homeware shop Industry & Co; The Marker in Dublin s regenerated Docklands; the hotel s brasserie restaurant; the Samuel Beckett Bridge. Leaving the hotel for Temple Bar the next day, I walk past the pubs......and the Dublin Hall of Fame with its cardboard cut-outs of U2 and make for Industry and Co. This cool café-cum-homeware store is thronged with people when I step inside to admire the grey woollen blankets, squirrel-cage light bulbs and soy wax-scented candles. Opposite, coffee shop Kaph also looks inviting and a queue of people outside seem to feel the same way. A few minutes away, the Temple Bar Gallery has been attracting cool young things since the 1980s and is responsible for helping to save part of Temple Bar from being bulldozed and turned into a bus terminal. Rayne Booth, Programme Curator at the gallery, explains: The gallery played a massive part in showing how Temple Bar could in fact become a new cultural quarter for Dublin. Thankfully, the government back then was persuaded and we are still here now. Temple Bar Gallery has an exhibition space but it s also home to 30 artists who have studios in the building artists such as Kathy Tynan, who has been working on her paintings in a project studio for the past year. So has Kathy noticed the city transforming? The vibe in the city artistically is really great, she says. Especially about painting it s kind of fashionable again. But it s not a totally good news story. As the city thrives and attracts foreign investment, rents are increasing, making it harder for artists like Kathy to find space to work. Walking further south from the gallery is The Powerscourt Centre, where Irish fashion and accessories designers are beginning to find a home in new store, Atrium. Powerscourt was once an extremely grand town house but now its rooms

4 078 Audi Magazine _ Dublin (This page) Kathy Tynan sits in her studio at The Temple Bar Gallery. She paints everyday scenes from around Dublin (Right) a view over Grand Canal Square

5 080 Audi Magazine _ Dublin and courtyard are home to a range of independent boutiques and eateries. Atrium is the brainchild of Kate Nolan and jewellery designer Chupi, who wanted to create a space to sell and spread the word about Irish fashion. When we were looking to set something up, Powerscourt was our preference, says Kate. And they ve been really supportive of us both as Irish young designers and as a start-up. We ve been open just over a year and we really feel we re in the right place. It s fun finding these new gems among the more traditional offerings of the city. Around five minutes from Powerscourt, on the historic St Stephen s Green, I strike lucky again. A café named Hatch & Sons and cocktail bar Urchin have set up shop in the basements of two grand Georgian houses on the square. And whether it s the contemporary twist on Irish cuisine served at Hatch & Sons, or the fishbowl-sized gin and tonics at Urchin, both are welcome sights after pounding the pavements of central Dublin. The desire to reinvent must be spreading because in neighbouring Rathmines an 18-month labour of love has recently been completed that s set to really breathe new life into the suburb. Stella Theatre is a cinema that was first opened in the 1920s. Much like the old docks, it fell into disrepair and was closed completely for many years. However, a team of redevelopers have painstakingly brought this old movie house back to life carefully restoring the plaster ceilings and mosaic tiles in the foyer, while making room for an all-new Stella Cocktail Club. And this is certainly no ordinary cinema. Instead of standard seats, a ticket gets you a leather armchair, and you can have cocktails and food brought to you by waiter service. All in all, it s an Art Deco masterpiece to delight the bright young things of the Roaring 1920s and 2020s alike. Another area being updated is Customs House Quay......just across the river from Docklands. This complex includes a shopping centre and, as of July, Urban Brewing. Located in an old warehouse, Urban Brewing is creating delicious, small-batch craft beer and already pulling in the young crowd from the nearby technology companies, as well as tourists and native Dubliners. You can t have a fresher beer than the ones we brew here, says Leo Vasileiou, Director of Urban Brewing. People think our tanks are for show but they re not. We have two full-time brewers who make and ferment the beer downstairs, it gets piped up here to our serving tanks and that s what comes out the taps. Although not short of drinking establishments, Dublin doesn t really have anywhere like Urban Brewing. Downstairs in the 200-year-old vaults, customers can sample some outstanding food. But even down here the beer has a part to play whether it s using ale to flavour a batter or even dehydrating the spelt leftover from brewing for biscuits for cheese. Dublin really has taken off lately, Leo tells me. It s a lot more cosmopolitan. The stores and companies that have reached here are more international and all of them are bringing their own touch, their own cultures into the city. And speaking of taking off, perhaps nowhere has taken off more in all of Dublin than Heron & Grey, a tiny restaurant at the back of an old market in the suburb of Blackrock that was awarded a Michelin Star just seven months after it opened. It s run by Andrew Heron and chef Damien Grey, and was born out of a shared vision for what contemporary fine dining should and could be. The menu changes every two weeks, uses the (Clockwise L-R): The steely exterior of the Bord Gáis Theatre; soaking up the ambience at Urban Brewing; Dublin Bay; the beautifully restored Stella Theatre finest ingredients in a variety of experimental and creative ways, and is always paired with either red or white wine. It seems the world is taking note there are no bookings available until March We actually had a woman cry on us at the restaurant. I think she was a little overwhelmed and she didn t want it to be over, says Andrew. It s pretty fantastic feedback! chips in Damien, who can eyeball each and every one of his 24 customers from his kitchen in the back of the restaurant. Far from being a hindrance, this diminutive size really helps with the intimate experience that the pair are trying to create. We really feel that eating with us is a collective experience, says Andrew. We want guests to be themselves and enjoy it. We serve some challenging stuff but people don t hesitate to try anything as it s delivered in a personal and very convivial, Irish atmosphere. Even so, couldn t they move into a bigger space? But if it s not broken, then why fix it? says Damien, handing me a spoonful of phenomenal yuzu-flavoured sorbet. Besides, we re just getting started. To me that sounds like the beginning of something exciting it sounds like Dublin 2.0 has still got much more to come.