Dublin 8 has been named as the 15th coolest neighbourhood in the world to live in by Time Out magazine coming in ahead of parts of Amsterdam, Montreal, Sydney, Oslo and Shanghai.
The area which stretches from Kilmainham, Inchicore and Islandbridge to the Liberties, Merchants Quay, the Coombe, Portobello and South Circular Road was deemed by the magazine as capturing "the essence and charm of the Irish capital to a tee."
“With much of the city being built up with cookie-cutter hotels and skyscrapers, this nook has retained much of its original architecture. But there have been plenty of positive changes in the past year too.”
The neighbourhood features a number of bars, cultural venues, distilleries, shops and cafes.
Meanwhile, the magazine awarded its top spot to Norrebro in Copenhagen with Andersonville in Chicago, Jongno 3-ga in Seoul, Leith in Edinburgh and Station District in Vilnius rounding out the top five.
The list is based on an annual survey of over 27,000 city dwellers all over the globe. Local editors then vet picks against what they are seeing on the ground to choose their overall winners.
Dublin 8 now has bragging rights over Phibsborough which has featured in 27th place in the list on two occasions in recent years. In 2020 Phibsborough ranked higher in the listings than London's Soho as the magazine focused on neighbourly kindness in the pandemic.
Stoneybatter also made the list in 2019 when it took the 40th spot ranking ahead of neighbourhoods in Prague, Budapest and Hong Kong.