Are Ye Going Up Town?

Shops and shopping in Limerick

by , ,

Hardcover, 286 pages

English language

Published 2020 by Mary Immaculate College.

ISBN:
978-0-905700-29-8
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‘Are ye going up town? Shops and shopping in Limerick’ is the product of a three-way partnership between Limerick City and County Council, Mary Immaculate College and members of the Limerick public who have come forward to share their stories of shopping in the city. Using maps, newspapers, advertisements, business records, photographs and recorded interviews, it traces the changes in Limerick’s streets and retailing over the course of three centuries.

The book explores how the very heart of Limerick City shifted from the Medieval port, Mary’s Street, Broad Street and Edward Street in 1700s to the high class retailing shops in George’s Street (modern-day O’Connell Street) up to the mid-20th century; then further to William Street in the 1950s and 60s; before the supplanting of the city centre by the suburban shopping centres from the 1970s onwards.

2 editions

reviewed Are Ye Going Up Town? by Hélène Bradley Davies

A unique local history

No rating

Are Ye Going Up Town is a research project by three university staff in Limerick, Ireland, who looked at the history of shopping in that city. The topic sounds a little specific, but the result presents some things I had never considered about the role shopping plays in social and urban connections. The emergence of department stores in the 19th century, and shopping centres (or 'malls') in the 20th, is something I had never considered as part of a social evolution, although this is not my field.

The book is the result of an incredibly deep project that took years to compile. It includes essays, scans of dozens of advertisements, photographs from the past two centuries, oral histories, and very concrete research. It's impressive in its depth, but it is very specific to place and field of research so may not be worth exploring unless the topics seem of interest.

Subjects

  • history
  • commerce