GEORGES ST. is on the move! Over the last few months there has been a decisive change in what had become one of Dublin's most run-down streets. Now the place is beginning to feel truly cosmopolitan again, packed with the kind of bars, restaurants and coffee houses that lend an area a real cosmopolitan ambience.

From the corner of Fade St. down to Dame St., the joint is beginning to jump, with a fresh, young, bohemian flavour that creates a natural extension from the Temple Bar area up towards Grafton St. and Stephen's Green. and in the process Dublin city is close to re-discovering its heart.

The latest addition to this happening milieu is the refurbishment and extension of The George - with its elegant new high frontage, it represents a very attractive development indeed, reflecting the vast improvement which has taken place in the design and finish of public houses in Ireland. Bars don't have to be damp, dank and smelly - or not any more, at any rate.

The George has long been identified as a premier meeting place for gays and doubtless it will remain so. However the attractions of the new premises are such that an influx of cosmopolitans and bohemians of any and every shade of orientation, sexual and otherwise, can confidently be anticipated. There's good food, fine drink and great company - male and female - on offer, and an atmosphere that would more commonly be associated with New York, Paris or Amsterdam. The times they are a changing, indeed.

"I've always had an open, inclusive attitude and I hope that's something The George becomes renowned for," says Cyril O'Brien. "Good conversation, good times and the opportunity to meet genuinely interesting people - that's what we've always offered in the past, only now we can do it in an even more open and, I hope, generous way. Ireland is changing and so too are people's attitudes. I think we've created a progressive, forward-looking establishment which reflects that new reality."

It's true. The George is one of Dublin's finest drinking emporia, bar none. Let the good times roll!