It's lively, busy and noisy - and changes like the redevelopment of The Clarence hotel are on the way. Paul O'Dohertyvisits the heart of Dublin.

IT'S HARD to believe that 20-odd years ago double-decker buses made their way down the winding sleepy cobblestones of Temple Bar. Now, it's all utterly changed.

The buses have long since been replaced by hordes of tourists, revellers and street performers, attracted to Dublin's biggest nightly outdoor and indoor party that often crosses the demarcation of what is public house and what is public.

It's also the set - as we speak - for a rather secretive television production company shooting a, whisper it, Lisbon Treaty commercial, who've been told not to speak to journalists.

It's busy, lively, free-flowing - a model for other city-centre regenerations - and desperately noisy for the locals. Security and the smell of stale early-morning side-street urine are major issues, in a tightly packed conurbation and architectural jewel that was largely rebuilt in the 1990s with attractive tax inventives.

Planned by Charlie Haughey as a cultural quarter, with some of the city's most interesting apartment buildings tucked away in the side streets, it's really a place to go eating and drinking.

Further changes are planned, with U2 keen to redevelop the existing Clarence Hotel and and replace it with a contentious Foster and Partners-designed five-star hotel.

The former ESB building is also due for a six-to-eight storey conversion to a mixed-use office and retail space, while a new wooden 10-storey hotel at the Fashion House on Exchange Street and a Mannix Flynn-inspired street art project are also planned.

How's the Market?

The residential stock is almost entirely apartments with a good supply on the market. Sherry FitzGerald recently sold a one-bedroom apartment without parking in the Crane Yard development on Crane Lane for €380,000, and a small two-bedroom apartment with parking for €410,000.

However, prices are beginning to drop: a spacious second floor, period-style one-bed, renovated 15 years ago on Parliament Street, with views of the Liffey and the evening sun, has been on the market for two months and the price is down from €365,000 to €345,000.

At the Friary, off the cobblestones on Fownes Street, a one-bedroom west-facing apartment over Luigi Malone's restaurant is €410,000, but expected to drop.

In Temple Bar Square, the quarter's heartbeat, a two-bedroom apartment, with access to a precious roof terrace and views of the city's skyline has been on the market a year and is available for €450,000.

In the tenant zone, plans are in the early stages to refurbish and upgrade some of derelict Crampton Court apartments with its little garden, car-parking spacess and views overlooking the Liffey.

And to rent?

Despite so few properties being available, bites are slow, with a one-bedroom apartment, typical of what is on offer, at Pudding Row on Essex Street West, on the market for 20-odd days and down from €1,350 to €1,250.

Going out?

Bars and music sessions aplenty and restaurants to suit all tastes although, despite The Winding Stair over the river getting a Bib Gourmand, there are still no Michelin stars.

Price of a pint?

In the Oliver St John Gogarty it's €5.20

Good for families?

Not a particularly child-friendly environment unless heavily supervised and living in a soundproof vacuum.

Although certainly not a hotbed of crèche facilities, the nearby YMCA crèche and Montessori on Aungier Street has places at €220 full-time per week.

There are no schools in the immediate area, but Trinity College is on your doorstep.

The proposed new children's hospital is only two miles away, The Ark, the children's cultural centre, is going strong, and there is a proposal to upgrade the existing Smock Alley theatre - part of the Gaiety school of Acting - with plans for a 220-seater theatre.

What to do?

Close to nearly everywhere in Dublin city, it has the Olympia, Irish Film Institute (IFI), Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, The Project, New Theatre and Cultivate Centre, along with its farmer's market, booksellers street entertainment and ongoing Dublin Dance Festival.

It's also a great place to get lost rambling the up-down-all-around curves and cubbyholes that hide the city's memories, nuances and dinky developments.

Home to

U2, Irish Stock Exchange and Central Bank

Locals say

"It's very close to everything in the city centre, whether it's food, drink or entertainment" (Yuam Fang).

"It's noisy until three or four in the morning and then the binmen come around dead on time at 5am" (Mary Grainger).

"I've been living in Crampton Court for 30 years and have a great view of the Liffey" (John French).

"When I finish working here at 6pm I can easily get a drink" (John Farrell).