The Market Bar

Dublin's original gastro bar and foremost tapas restaurant.

Fade Street was originally a part of Dublin’s 19th century red-light district, nick-named “Monto”, which stretched from Montgomery Street up to Talbot Street. It became the largest red-light district in Europe with over 1600 prostitutes working there at its peak.

The area drew young men from the British Army barracks, the navy and if you believe the rumours, King of England Edward VII lost his virginity there while he was stationed nearby! It was “cleaned up” by the middle class gentry, to make room for more business development.

Next it became a lane of tenement flats, with over 20 families housed there from the early 1900’s onwards. Where the Market Bar stands today there was an abattoir supplying the south city markets (George’s Street arcade) directly behind it and the sausage factory across the street.

You can still see the grates on the floor where the animal waste was disposed of. When Dublin City Council brought in new health laws in the 1920’s, the building was instead used as a sausage factory. Very few records can be found for the abattoir, hinting that maybe it wasn’t completely legal!

Fade Street was named such due to a local banker Joseph Fade, who left substantial sums of money in his will to some of the locals and families who lived on the street. While the flats are now gone, the stunning red-brick buildings still remain on the historical lane, which provided the backdrop for Ireland’s first reality TV show, named after the street.

It’s now a part of what locals call “the creative quarter”, with many new restaurants, coffee shops and quirky boutiques, residing in the 250 year old buildings. Fashionable, beautiful and full of character, Fade Street is one of the most diverse places in Dublin.