Experience Cultural Dublin – The Temple Bar Street Art Tour

Temple bar is well known for many things. The centre of Dublin’s nightlife, and world famous for it. A cultural centre for Dublin’s citizens. But rarely is it known for its street art. Which is a shame as within this small area there is a thriving scene, and an excellent Temple Bar Street Art Tour that demands to be walked. It should come as no surprise though, cultural hotspots worldwide are often in possession of an excellent scene. The Temple Bar Street Art scene showcases Dublin favourites Subset, Kinmx, James Earley, Shane Sutton, and Maser.

Temple Bar is a good central starting point to anyone wanting to make a dent on the Dublin street art scene. The whole route is only 1.4 kilometres in length, which should take no more than 6 hours. However if you can resist the lure of those 8 pints of Guinness, the hearty Irish meals and the foot stompingly good Irish ballads in the pubs, then you can do it all in 15-20 minutes.

I’ve walked the following route and saved it to Alltrails. So you don’t get lost in the narrow streets or alleyways that zigzag through Temple Bar, here’s the link to save the day. Though many a day has been lost in Temple Bar with no memory of where or what happened. Though hardly in search of street art.

The best route for the Temple Bar Street Tour

The walking tour begins on O’Connell Bridge, about as central as you can get in the city. Walk down Aston Quay and enter Temple Bar via Price’s Lane. On your right is this seductive piece by Canvaz from Galway. Turning left on to Fleet Street we walk to the top and the intersection with Westmoreland Street for an entry from Dublin Canvas. This is known as Party Huns and is by Claire Provost a French illustrator operating in Dublin. Definitely a reference to the night life in the streets nearby.

Retracing our steps back along Fleet Street to the corner of Parliament Row, we come across a wall frequently changed by Subset. Now we have one by artists called Submission Control, featuring a series of wrestling maneuvers. Perhaps there is a deep meaning to it. Perhaps it’s just for fun and colour pop though. This is Submission 1. You’ll find some others in Terenure, Harolds Cross and off Camden Street.

We are back down the side streets on Aston Place to the colourful Icon Factory shop and enter Bedford Lane. This lane is a tribute to musicians of ireland and known as Icon Lane, but also has its share of street art. The ones dominating it are by Kevin Bohan especially his newbie “Inner City Blues” which marks the 50 year anniversary of the Marvin gaye album What’s Going On. Kevin Bohan is constantly striving to see Temple Bar be protected for its artistic qualities as well as its commercial ones.

Temple Bar’s heart & it’s most impressive murals

Turning the corner take a short walk to the Auld Dubliner Pub, turn, and take in the scale of the Subset mural on the building behind. It’s message relates to the seas and oceans and the plastic being dumped there and ruining the ecosystem. It’s huge and so is its message. Incidentally I used to work in the Auld Dub Pub.

Continuing straight on Angelsea Street til you get to the Blooms Hotel. The entire colourful facade is our next highlight, painted by James Earley and featuring characters from Ulysses by James Joyce. Quite fitting for a hotel called Blooms. Cope street, then Crown Alley, take us past a couple of colourful store fronts and we land in the heart of Temple Bar and its square. Avoiding the aforementioned temptations, we follow Temple Bar’s main cobblestone street, and a short detour to a Kinmx storefront on Fownes Street Lower. Mexican-born, but living in Dublin, she’s my favourite Irish based street artist.

After a left at the institution which is the Temple Bar pub, you’ll find there are a some worthy distractions on the narrow streets of Temple Lane, Crow Street, and a brilliant portrait by @tizxl on Cecilia Street. A Banksy that once was here no longer exists. If it was ever really a Banksy. Does anyone ever really know?

The Final stages of our Temple Bar tour

Our Temple Bar Street Art Tour continues onto Curved Street with some of Pens Pigeons on our right. Above is a portrait of Irish musician, DJ, and broadcaster BP Fallon painted by Maser. Turns on to Eustace Street and Essex Street follow, before a large scale artwork of Irish Olympic Pentathlete Natayla Coyle by artist Sufek West. It’s one of three commissioned by Indeed, with another on Camden Row, Dublin, and Victoria Road, Cork. See Mary’s Bar on your left? Look up above for a quite Stag by James Earley.

We are fast running out of Temple bar streets, but take Sycamore Street up to Dame Street, and spot Dead Meat by Conor harrington. The dead cow is a metaphor for waste and excess in this consumerist society. Our time on Dame Street is brief as we turn down into Campton Court next to the Olympia Theatre.

Here we find “Love The Lanes”, an Anna Doran led initiative to bring colour to the small back lanes of Temple Bar. On Love Lane the walls and pavements are a canvas, and it’s the most colourful dark alleyway in Dublin, you’ll ever have the pleasure of walking down.

Our tour finally wanders onto Parliament street where we find a few beautiful entries by Dublin Canvas, by Iljin and Paul Lucaci. However your exploration of Dublin street art doesn’t need to stop here. Take a journey through the street art of Dublin on one of my other suggested walking tours, in this article- Street Art of Dublin.

The Love Lane Temple Bar

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Ireland has an excellent and growing street art scene. Towns and cities such as Longford and Waterford both have a strong scene made better by annual street art festivals. They are really worth a look.

Let me know if you take the Temple Bar Street art tour, and what you thought of it. Thanks for reading.