Jeonbuk National University Daehak-ro

The old gate became Jeonju’s youth strip

By the mid-1990s, the streets outside Jeonbuk National University’s old gate were already being used for campus song contests, performances and student cultural events. Within a few years the same blocks became one of Jeonju’s main concentrations of bars, restaurants, billiard rooms and student-oriented retail

By the early 2000s, the old-gate area had become one of Jeonju’s representative youth commercial zones. Its audience extended beyond students: cheap beer, late-night food and a dense cluster of small businesses also drew young workers and other Jeonju residents

The cultural layer thinned before the shops did

One of the clearest losses was Saenal Bookstore. It stood near the old gate as Jeonbuk’s only specialist social-science bookstore and had been closely associated with student political and cultural life. It closed in 2002

By 2004, the turnover was visible in the storefronts: signs were changing within a year, some businesses were closing or being put up for lease, and shop formats fashionable in larger cities were arriving. Student performance space was thinning at the same time

The old gate still kept its role as a youth meeting point, but the idea of a “university street” had narrowed. Later merchant groups and student organizations repeatedly tried to rebuild a public-cultural layer through street festivals and community events

Five hundred metres were rebuilt for walking

The largest physical intervention came in 2016. Jeonju converted the 500-metre stretch between Jeonbuk National University’s new gate and old gate into the Green Art Street Sharing Forest. Existing sidewalk space was turned into greenery, while a path inside the campus was opened as the pedestrian route

The project added trees, community space, lighting and a more continuous walking connection between the two gates. The old-gate Daehak-ro itself also received pedestrian-environment work intended to make the commercial street easier to use as public space rather than only a traffic corridor

The district is still treated as an active shopping area. For 2026 Jeonju secured a program that gives Daehak-ro customers one hour of parking at a partner public facility. It is a modest support measure for a commercial district the city is still trying to strengthen, not proof that the old-gate economy has fully recovered

Before you go

The old gate is the commercial core: food, bars and student-oriented businesses remain concentrated there. The walk toward the new gate is physically calmer because of the green corridor created in 2016, and it links naturally with the campus and nearby Deokjin Park. Reading both parts together makes the district’s repeated attempts to balance commerce, student culture and public space easier to see