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"In the mid- ‘80s I had a weekend job in Kingburger in the Ilac Centre in Dublin. The ‘80’s were pioneering times for “modern” fast food in Ireland. ‘Kingburger’ (no doubt today’s IP lawyers might have something to say about the name) was owned by a branch of the Forte family of Irish-Italian chipper and ice cream parlour fame. At the time they still had a couple of old school Forte branded cafes in the city centre, including one with ‘The Kiosk’ near the Liffey end of O’Connell Street, but hints of the fast-food future were already in the air and the Fortes were early to seize the opportunities this presented. They had opened a Kingburger restaurant on North Earl Street and to this they added a new branch at the end of the ‘Parnell Mall’ in the Ilac Centre (now a McDonalds) as well as an ice cream parlour called ‘The Soda Fountain,’ half-way up the stairs to the then new Central Library. It’s hard to imagine now that the Ilac Centre seemed incredibly modern when it opened in 1981 and just a few years later when I started work there it was still the only proper shopping mall in the city."