1790s – Nos. 21-22 Dame Street, Dublin

Commercial premises for Andrews & Co tea merchants from London. Originally a Wide Streets Commissioners terrace, with their typical arched groundlevel facade. Buildings eventually replaced by the Art Deco Montague Burton Building.

John Richard Andrew Andrews opened a shop at 20 Dame Street in 1838 and traded as J.R. Andrews & Company, Tea Merchants. By 1841 there was also outlets at 44 Dudley Street and 316 Oxford Street, London. His brothers Henry Arthur and George came to Dublin and formed a Partnership with him and they extended the business into 19 Dame Street as a store selling cheeses and meats, and number 20 Dame Street became an Italian store in 1847. That same year he was elected an annual member of the RDS. Eventually extended to include 19, 20, 21 and 22 Dame Street.

An advertisement in the Dublin Evening Mail in 1853 boasted that they “have now every department fully supplied with all the requisites for Christmas fare.” There were Christmas teas, at 4 shillings a pound, French plums, Valencia, Muscatel and Sultana raisins, crystallised ginger, greengages, pineapples and cherries, fruits in brandy and in syrup, and five different types of ham.