 In the 19th century Sandy Row became a bustling shopping district, and by the turn of the 20th-century, there were a total of 127 shops and merchants based in the road.It continued to draw shoppers from all over Belfast until the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s.The rows of 19th-century terraced houses in the streets and backstreets branching off Sandy Row have been demolished and replaced with modern housing.