Temple Bar Properties' decision to depart from its long-established practice of selling new apartments on a "first-come, first-served" basis in favour of auctioning 13 choice units in the new Wooden Building has not gone down at all well in the cultural quarter.

One angry resident, Neil Cooke, who has been living in Temple Bar for six years, described the change of policy as "shameful", saying it was almost inevitable that in selling these apartments to the highest bidders, they would be "snapped up by investors".

"TBP are at best paying lip-service to their stated - and I quote from the current brochure - policy of maximising the number of owner-occupiers in the Old City by retaining four one-bedroom apartments in the Wooden Building for sale to owner-occupiers."

For anyone living in the area who wished to upgrade, such as Mr Cooke himself, this gesture was "derisory and less than useless". What the auctions on March 30th signalled, according to him, was "the final betrayal of the vision of a residential community".