Are Ye Going Up Town?

‘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.