Sweny’s Pharmacy made famous by Joyce included in building sale

One of Dublin’s most famous literary landmarks is included in the sale of a central Dublin building. Number 1 Lincoln Place has been placed on the market by CBRE seeking €3.25m for “a mixed-use investment property”.

The sales details for the site located on the busy corner intersection of Westland Row and Lincoln Place state it includes two cafes and three residential units overhead, but what sets it apart is that it is also home to Sweny's Pharmacy, the chemist made famous in Joyce's Ulysses where Leopold Bloom bought a bar of the now famous lemon soap for his wife Molly.

The notice inadvertently referred to Sweny’s Café as one of the tenants, when in fact Sweny’s, retaining its original 19th century interior, operates today as the Joycean Museum Trust. From 1847 until 2009 it traded as Sweny’s Pharmacy, and now, staffed by volunteers, it opens daily to host group readings of Joyce’s work and sell those bars of lemon-scented soap.

A centrepiece of Dublin’s Bloomsday celebrations every June, it’s a fixure on the Dublin tourist trail, with sales helping to finance the Joycean Museum located there. Prospective buyers take note, Sweny’s should not to be confused with your common or garden high street café, it’s only a Dublin institution.