A SMALL band of historians is celebrating after an old music hall and cinema featured in the James Joyce epic 'Ulysses' was restored to its former glory.

The old run-down site of the Antient Concert Rooms, which went on to become the Academy Cinema on Dublin's Pearse Street, has been refurbished as part of a new development.

Historian Damien Cassidy said: "We need to pay more attention to old Dublin and famous landmarks. If we don't do something soon we won't recognise our own Dublin."

Other areas which have changed dramatically in the capital include the old horse market area of Smithfield and the Liberties, the historian said.