The Irish Times

The west end of Temple Bar has won a major award from the UK's Royal Town Planning Institute. But the reality on the ground doesn't match the judges' perceptions. The latest feather in Temple Bar's cap, presented in London recently, was the Royal Town Planning Institute's "Planning and City Reneneration" award for the area's west end - a set of related residential and retail schemes centred around a new street, Cow's Lane, between Lord Edward Street and Essex Street West. Chosen from 90 entries, it was the only Irish project to win an RTPI award. However, all is not quite as it seems, as shopkeepers and other traders in the area know to their cost. Put bluntly, it hasn't worked as planned.