The story of Princes Street – how Cork’s outdoor dining oasis became Ireland’s best pandemic pivot

And some had to pivot so much they were practically pirouetting.

With indoors off-limits, outdoor dining was, for months, the lifeblood of the industry. And one of the first places to not only embrace but spearhead this trend was Princes Street in Cork.

On June 29, 2020, this thin, colourful strip burst into life with a new splash of outdoor seating, creating a sleek European vibe where people could congregate and reunite.

A few businesses from the street came up with the idea, and Claire Nash of Nash 19 and Paul Montgomery of Clancy’s brought the proposal to Cork City Council.

From there, the concept became reality. Seating and permanent umbrellas were added, and a buzzy hub for al-fresco fun was born.

“The street has opened up like a tulip,” said Claire Nash. “From the minute you step onto the top of Princes Street, you can see that this is a crowd that’s working together. There’s no doubt about it — our street works exceptionally well.”

And it didn’t stop there.

The success of Princes Street sparked other iterations around the city. Last year, as part of its Reimagining Cork City programme, Cork City Council made other streets traffic-free – in all, 18 additional streets were pedestrianised, and the council is emulating the model on four other streets, three of which (Union Quay, Beasley Street and Caroline Street) are complete.

It was a recovery effort then-Lord Mayor Joe Kavanagh compared to that which followed the Burning of Cork over a century ago. The city was “ready to rise from the ashes of Covid-19”, he said, with new ways of living and doing business.

“They had real ambition, agility and cohesion about what they wanted to do,” remembers Fearghal Reidy of Cork City Council. “The Princes Street experience created a more continental feel, and that gave the other streets the confidence to do the same.”

Last summer, Irish Independent Travel Editor Pól Ó Conghaile visited Princes Street and described it as “Cork’s Covid-era cover star”.

"Punters sip pints and glasses of wine with shopping bags at their feet,” he wrote. “Wait staff wear sage-green face masks branded with the hashtag #eatonthestreet. Pizzas are flying out from Burnt, seafood from Quinlan’s, and signs at either end welcome passers-by to ‘our people-friendly reimagined street’.”

But it’s not just people meeting for a glass of wine in the sun or friends gathering on a cosy winter terrace with an Americano. Cork also introduced cute ‘parklets’, turning parking spaces into 14 micro-parks, and there are more plans afoot, including an outdoor stage in Elizabeth Fort. The council has also worked with disability groups to take accessibility into account.

It’s far from the only al-fresco spot in the country, but Princes Street blazed a pandemic trail for the rest to follow. As our judges said: “Now we all want more Princes Streets.”

Six pandemic pivots to be proud of

Here’s just a small selection of the turnarounds our judges cited for imagination and resilience in our Reader Travel Awards 2022.

1. Sage 2.0/Sage 2Go, Co Cork

Kevin Aherne’s restaurant flipped from high-end to more casual during Covid, adding a covered outdoor area, doing takeout, and creating a new food store. Its hyper-local food ethos remains front and centre. sagerestaurant.ie

2. Armada Hotel, Co Clare

This is a fiercely innovative and creative hotel, with pandemic pivots ranging from The Pantry, selling goods and gifts, to its Catch food truck, glamping, Explorer camper van and ‘Quest for the Best’ recruitment campaign. Where do they get the energy? armadahotel.com

3. Kinsale Food Tours, Co Cork

Like many, Suzanne Burns’ business went off a cliff when international travel stopped, but she adapted her much-loved town tour, as well as pivoting to add new foraging and picnic tours, and a private yacht picnic charter. kinsalefoodtours.com

4. Forest Avenue, Dublin

The fine-dining city restaurant has reinvented itself, pivoting early to add a grocer and deli with micro-bakery and wine. It blazed a trail in truly tough times. We see it as a pandemic pioneer. forestavenuerestaurant.ie

5. Listoke Distillery, Co Louth

This distillery and gin school was one of the earliest to flip to making hand sanitiser, as early as March 2020, in an inspirational pivot. It has since donated more than 10,000 litres to charities and also runs a monthly First Sip Society subscription club (for gin, not sanitiser, of course). listokedistillery.ie

6. Ashdown Park & Amber Springs hotels, Co Wexford

When hospitality shut down in 2020, the sister hotels in Gorey retained staff to cook free meals for vulnerable people in the community. They went on to produce new own-brand ready meals, introduced a food truck using beef from their own local farm, and revamped menus to further lower food miles. ambersprings.ie; ashdownparkhotel.com