On a sunny autumn morning, a small crowd has gathered on the corner of Fleet Street and Bedford Row in Temple Bar opposite the Oliver St John Gogarty pub. They are a group of 15 urban sketchers from Britain, Canada, the US and Germany, over on a weeklong trip.
As they work, other tourists and locals stop to look at their drawings. They chat pleasantly, and move on.
If someone was looking for an image to advertise Dublin’s cultural quarter, this is it. It’s almost too perfect. It also couldn’t be further removed from the image often portrayed in media and on social media of Temple Bar.
In recent months, the area has been the focus of numerous reports of attacks on tourists, with some hospitalised as a result of their injuries.
Kayla Jones, who organised the art trip, was unaware of these incidents, but had heard Temple Bar could “be a bit leery”.
“I suppose what you hear is that it’s the drinking capital of Europe,” she says.
“But being here, it’s been quite lovely. We’ve been out in the pubs, there’s been a great atmosphere, nice food. We haven’t had any trouble.
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