AN AWARD-WINNING bookstore in Dublin city centre is cordoned off this afternoon following an overnight arson attack.

Books Upstairs, a popular D’Olier Street store which won the O’Brien Bookseller of the Year in February, sustained damage to the facade of the business after a fire was lit outside the store in the early hours of this morning.

Staff have since began to clean the scene of the fire.

In a statement, gardaí said that they attended the scene of the fire at around 3am.

No injuries were reported in the fire, a garda spokesperson added.

Rubble outside the bookshop.

Books Upstairs manager Louise Earls told The Journal that the fire was “a rude awakening this morning”.

“A fire was set outside the shop, but we have no reason to believe that it was anything other than just an opportunistic, random act of violence,” Earls said.

“I’m still getting my head together, to be honest.”

Earls described how, fortunately, the damage from the fire was “quite contained” and limited to the front of one side of the buildings (the store spans across two buildings), and staff were currently at the scene preparing for a late opening.

The fire occurred at around 3am.

“My staff are amazing, and they’re all just came in to help,” Earls said. “The gardaí were also helpful and reassuring, we’re waiting to hear more information about the fire.”

Earls said that the aim is to open the shop and “get customers in” today, adding that it will be “as close to business as usual as is possible for now”.

“We’re really, really happy that it isn’t worse,” Earls said. 

“There is a lot of damage to the facade of that half of the shop, so there is a lot of work ahead to figure out what we need to do.”

Books Upstairs is Dublin’s oldest independent bookshop.

Gardaí have said that investigations into the fire are ongoing.