When the English were in charge and could put manners on the Dublin rabble
Thatâs disgusting
Similar crap happening in deprived areas of cork city for years
Targeted attacks on local soccer / GAA clubs etc who work voluntarily in their own areas
Mind boggles
Doesent happen generally in â nicerâ areas so something radically wrong
No appetite to even begin tackling it
Maybe if the police went up and policed it, that might help
Why was so much shit retail allowed in in the first place. Main Street in The capital city and itâs full of shit Chinese restaurants, vape shops and casinos. Clearys will help bring life back.
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I remember (barely) in the early to mid 80s going up to Dublin at Christmas. I canât really remember what OâConnell street was like in terms of shops etc, but I do remember seeing some kids trying to get food out of bins.
From memory there was the Carlton and the Savoy, Cleryâs, Burgerland, Golden Discs, Clarks, the Royal Dublin, Two Bank of Irelands, AIB, Ulster Bank, Irish Permanent, Hamiltons Chemists, the Gresham, Rumours, the Kylemore, the Happy Ring House, the Mayfair Grill, Easons, BHS, the GPO, Flanaganâs, McDonalds, Burger King, Irish Nationwide.
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Where was Switzerâs? Georgeâs or Dame Street? Iâve a childhood recollection of being around 7 and staying with my cousin in Templeogue, getting a Dublin Bus (front row, top deck) into the city with my Aunty and cousin, being in Switzerâs and other shops I canât recall and being incredibly excited when we went somewhere and got burger and fries and then a huge knickerbocker glory. A mound of all different types of ice-cream practically flowing out of the top of the glass thingy. This was unbelievable to me. Iâd never seen anything like it.
Ah for jaysus sake. Switzers was in the middle of Grafton St where Brown Thomas is now. Brown Thomas was where M&S is now. Brown Thomas in those days catered mostly to Anglo Irish and Protestant customers. I chanced it one time in the sales and got a great navy double breasted woollen suit that lasted me for years. The Protestants were very thrifty and couldnât be putting up with the inferior Italians suits that the likes of Louis Copeland would sell.
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The Christmas window display in Switzers was off the charts. Michael Mann stuff back then. Times Square only trottin after itâŚ
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Switzers window was box office. Was best in early evening
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Unreal. We might have been in Captain Americaâs or somewhere then, but I have a feeling we were on the Switzerâs side of the road. When did those Thunderroad Cafe type places come to Dublin? Would they have been on Fleet Street before Temple Bar was a thing? We might have been down there, thatâs maybe why Dame Street direction was on my mind.
1995/1996 Iâd say. When Temple Bar Properties started up.
I saw the Prime Time report on the state of OâConnell Street and was wondering if there are any private residential properties left on the street at all. There must have been plenty at one time.
RTE had a series a few years ago about streets where people lived and there was still a few people living on the street if I remember correctly.
Theyâre probably dead now.
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Sounds like you were in the US pal.
OCS was the major entertainment hub in the city until the 1960s so theatres and cinemas a big part of it. Once suburbia came about that niche was dead. The casinos took their place as regulators were asleep at the wheel. I assume Dublin was in such a state in the 80s that there wasnât much opposition to the likes of Dr Quirkeys.
Retail wise, Iâd say Clerys was badly managed. I wouldnât have been familiar with it growing up but it was very much 4th choice between BT, Switzers and Arnotts. The opening of the Jervis Centre, Ilac and Parnell Centre wouldnât have helped.
Other factors for the state itâs in (mainly to do with the general state of the north inner city);
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concentration of addiction services nearby
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OCS is an effective bus terminus, bringing with it plenty of social problems from the outskirts
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the north inner city is not an A List office location aside from the IFSC which was cut off from the rest of the North Inner city until the LUAS was built.
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the north inner city has historically not being an education hub. Aside from a couple of small DIT campus and NCI (which had the same issues as the IFSC in marrying to the overall north side), there has been little reason for student footfall
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the north inner city was always the retail centre of the city, the various centres that damaged OCS 20-30 years ago have been in decline themselves for 10-15 years, reducing quality of football in the area
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two plus centuries of more pronounced decline in the north inner city vs. the south of the city.
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the decline of the port and docks which accelerated the 19th century problems
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focus of regeneration on retail and houses in the 1980s and 1990s
More recent issues- Guards not policing, allowing the GPO to become a soup kitchen for political reasons and politicians objecting to development (Save Moore Street simpletons).
More broadly, it is extremely challenging to do much of anything to fully revitalise the Northside due to the likes of the Irish Georgian Society. The bullet needs to be bitten to allow a major Tech company campus along with a reduction in regulations around housing regeneration.
So lots of direct and indirect problems with OCS, all very complicated. Plenty of positives in recent years- the LUAS crossing the spine east and west is something the Southside does not have (proper policing would make more people willing to use it), DIT at Grangegorman, Clerys being rebuilt etc but the current acute social problems are a threat to this revitalisation.
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Good memory there - also the doughnut place where they served you through the hatch was a childhood treat when in for the Xmas shopping. Can you remember the name of the Chinese across the way with the big arched upstairs window; reputedly the first Chinese in Ireland - it was called Sunrise or something like that.
Some projects that would really help the northside (there are several dozen I could mention). Incompetence from the City Council, pandering to loudmouths on Twitter and government focus on pandering to those Twitter loudmouths the problem.
City Library planned for Parnell Square delayed until 2027 | Business Post
Planned in 2016, nothing being done until 2027 at the very least.
It isnât his fault that it didnât go ahead but âlover of Dublinâ Frank McDonald didnât help by writing a whimsical piece in the Irish Times demanding the city library went to his doorstep at the old Central Bank in 2017 rather than here.
White Water rafting facility. Oirish peopleâs lack of self confidence via Twitter scuppered this one that DCC had actual funds for. It could have been a unique feature for Dublin- like ice skating in Rockerfeller Centre, but it sits idle
In the midst of the Global Financial Crisis and no construction jobs in the country, a redevelopment of Liberty Hall rejected. SIPTU have since lost interest and must have raided the piggy bank as it falls into further disrepair
Waterfront Central rejected. The opportunity for the north inner city to have the premier landmark in the city, with incredible views of the city, Dublin Bay and the Dublin/Wicklow mountains objected to by pen pushers in DCC who canât find the time to update their development plans
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/appeal-against-massive-moore-street-24842320
The âSave Moore Streetâ campaign. Led by Relatives of the 1916 Rising. Apparently despite us being a Republic that hereditary privilege is alive and well as politicians lap up their demands. The chance for the State to have a museum and to revitalise an area that is better known as a place to get replacement iPhone parts from stolen phones is delayed
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All the while the country is in the midst of a once in a generation corporation tax boom. Dublin City Council have an enormous budget that appears to deliver nothing. Dublin City Councillors are more interested in voting pro Palestinian motions and renaming buildings after members of the International socialist brigade in the 1930s than doing anything.
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