Local Cafes Survive COVID-19 and Persevere
demic it is also a long-lasting café in the area. With its sense of welcome and familiarity given by the atmosphere and treat of Teresa as soon as you enter the café, it is hard to see why one wouldn’t stay. Teresa came to Ireland in 1993, arriving at a very young age from Spain to learn English. She stayed in the country and studied photography; went on to work for the Metro Newspaper, in a hotel, and other part-time jobs until an acquaintance offered to start a business together. Her business partner lived in the building in front of the café, which at the time was a beauty salon.
Business owners talk about coming to Dublin, settling in the Dublin 8 area to open their cafes, and how their business survived the pandemic.
When they were leaving, he saw the need for a café around the area and proposed to open one. That was eleven years ago. To this day, they have stayed in business seeing changes happening in the area near St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Since its beginnings, there were lots of people coming; from tourists to locals from all parts of the world, it was a thriving business just like any other, until COVID-19 happened.
by Estephania Bedoya
I
Dublin 8 is considered a very hip, up-andcoming area with a vibrant diversity of residents. As someone who recently arrived in Ireland, the great variety of options available for restaurants, cafés and pubs did not go unnoticed. Nonetheless, keeping a business afloat through a pandemic is no easy task. Dozens of businesses were forced to adapt to a new reality; many struggled while others did not survive. Cathedral Café is located in Dean St. near St. Patrick’s Cathedral and The Coombe. Its location prompts many visits from locals, tourists and the student community surrounding the area. Although one of many businesses that survived the worst of the pan-
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“It is like everywhere else. Everything has changed a lot until tourism starts again. If there is no tour, no theatre, no parties, no bars and no nothing then people do not come!” she said while preparing for closing time, “The pandemic goes on and on. We have been open for two months but we can’t just go back to how it was before these two years of the pandemic.”
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I’ve never thought of leaving, I came at a very young age and I have my life here.
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sat at a corner table in Cathedral Cafe when a young man came in and asked for the order he had placed earlier in the day. Teresa -the owner of the place- went to the back kitchen to get it, “Did I see you yesterday as well?” she asked when returning to the front counter. “Probably, I always come to this place. I come from New York, but I have already been here for two years and this is my favourite café.” Teresa laughed asking him if he has tried other cafés around the area. “Yes, I have. This is the best! That’s why I keep coming back,” he replied cheerfully. They said their goodbyes, he left, and Teresa came to bring my order.
I listen while she mentions how Dublin 8 is an area full of history, even the building above the café, now Airbnb rooms mostly, is about 200 years old. She wants to move to the area in the future, but considering high rent prices, she hasn’t yet. As for the local spaces’ rent, she mentions how they “got lucky” due to the small demeanour of the place. “It depends on the owner,” she says, “but in our case, we’ve been so many years here that instead of having it empty or with someone they don’t know, we are here”.
