City centre on a high

PERSPECTIVE is everything. The country’s in a recession and Cork is finally getting the shopping it deserves — if this week’s rush to the new Dunne’s Stores outlet is anything to go by.

Now developer Owen O’Callaghan offers the sleek new Opera Lane centre, where worker bees are still polishing granite and laying flags prior to an October opening.

In the last recession of the 1980s, O’Callaghan built Merchant’s Quay — now he’s collected major international brands under a series of roofs stretching over Patrick Street to Academy Street, Bowling Green Street and back to Emmet Place. Jobs will flow from international signings like H&M, Topshop and Boots.