Is award for Cow’s Lane a load of bull?

Too right it is – architecture looks nice (even if they did lop the top floors off the wooden building) but the area is dying on its arse – not enough of a draw to that end of TB unless you know it’s there, even then unless you want an expensive kitchen there isn’t much of huge appeal down there

The drink! ‘Tis a curse.

And lets face it the main factor that has ruined the original high-minded idea ebhind the whole of Temple Bar is the unfettered spread of superpubs and the yob culture they generate.

Architecturally I think the Cow’s Lane area looks great but if you live there its a different story. Residents have repeatedly complained about the nose from the street and the poor building managment which has let the wrong type of people move into these blocks to the detriment of their neighbours.

The central block off Essex Street is still derelict which doesnt help the overall perception. Also strung across Essex Street is the original banner for Old City which is now dirty and tattered..also not doing very much for its image.

Still some good news. A new building is being completed beside the Front Lounge which looks a bit quirky and different. Still its a far cry from the property mad days of the boom years.

Anyone think transferring management of Temple Bar back to the DCC is a factor in the decline in the area or is it just a case of time naturally taking the shine off a not-so-new pair of shoes?

Isn’t it the case that once the pioneer excitement fades from these places and they go mainstream, the cracks always start to appear? In London we’ve seen this happen in Covent Garden (now tourist hell) Clerkenwell, Hoxton…

…but where it’s starting afresh, there’s still a buzz. Liverpool’s Ropewalks area today, for instance, feels very much like Temple Bar in the early days.

I was thinking of the rise of the super pub affecting the whole of Temple Bar from Westmoreland Street down. The fact that TB is no longer a cultural quarter but a place of pub orientated entertainment has let down all the residents and businesses who bought into the original scheme thinking they were goijng to be lving in a nice mixed use area.

However your point about Parliament Street is interesting – I never thought about it so much but I have often unconsciously thought..’ Im at the end now when I get to P Street’ although I like the internet cafe in Old City so I usually get down there a bit.

Parliament Street is easy to cross. The traffic lights from all sides favour pedestrians in the main and the amount of cars on it is quite small.
I don’t think traffic is the problem with Temple Bar’s West End. I think it was completed far too late, by which time the edge of TB was defined by Parliament Street.
If for example, there had been one popular pub or a couple of popular restaurant on Cow’s Lane and associated streets from the early days (even if Blazers was still open) then that end would have been much busier all along.

I hate to say it… but if there was a super pub down that end – there would be a draw of people and there’d probably be a knock on effect to other businesses.

“the nose from the street and the poor building managment which has let the wrong type of people move into these blocks”, just wondering what you meant by this StephenC.

I assume “noise” although he could be talking about the stench of piss that accompanies most of TB these days.

I think the whole Temple Bar area seems to start petering out from Fitzsimon’s Bar Westward and Parliament street draws a halt to the whole thing in the mental map for many people’s. A couple of good restaurants could help the old city end to be honest.

I suppose its a bit strong – a bad choise of words…
I was thinking of an article I read about 6 months ago from someone who had forked out for an apartment on Cow Lane. She was complaining that the fact that so many of the apartments were being rented out rather than lived in by long term residents. It is a generalisation but short term renters tend not to want to invest to much time and energy in their living area because they get no return. Live in residents on the other hand have a natural bias towards making a place work and more importantly worth more.

sorry – yes ‘noise’ not ‘nose’

great typing!

That designer kitchen shop that’s permanently closed (except by appointment) says it all about Cow’s Lane. If there was a decent restaurant or two there, I think it would draw people in.

Wasn’t there a clothes shop there at some point – with the price of a T-shirt averaging what a suit costs in another shop!

think you have a point there Paul

The clothes shop was Cuan Hanley, closed after a few months. Expect more to follow. The only signs of life seem to be the bakers and the internet cafe/call shop – which I think proves that people will cross Parliament Street if stuff they want is on the other side!

Retailers are angry at lack of landmarks

ANGRY retailers in Dublin’s Temple Bar have accused the management company of seriously damaging their businesses by not providing promised landmarks and tourist attractions.

Mairead Foley, a spokesperson for 20 businesses between Parliament Street and Fishamble Street, told a Dublin City Council meeting when traders were taking out leases, they were led to believe it would be Dublin’s Covent Garden. “In the last 18 months, six businesses have closed because there is nothing to attract people into that part of the area,” she said.

But Temple Bar Properties chief Dermott McLaughlin said: “I wouldn’t bat an eyelid that six of 320 businesses have closed down or moved on.”

Thats a good attitude! I suppose he might have a point in relation to the whole of Temple Bar.. on the whole its a thriving, busy quarter. But I think the Old City are is being let go to pot. There really has to be a concerted effort to get people down to this part of town.

The Cuan Hanley site is now being redeveloped into…you’ve guessed it…another furniture shop.

I’m a long-term (9 years) resident
just off Dame St, so Cow’s Lane is the nearest shopping “area” to me; I live about 2 minutes walk from there. In the last 2 years, the only thing I’ve bought there was a pumpkin, and only because someone had set up a temporary stall there just before Halloween.

Actually, “pumpkin” pretty much describes the lane. Yes, it looks nice. But all of the shops belong to the Objecthaus School of Overpriced Kitsch; the kind of places frequented by those trying to be hyper-hip on high salaries – that is, very downturn- and recession-unfriendly.

P.

The only reason I ever go through the old city part of TB is because it’s on the way home – there really is no reason to attract people across Parliament St. If the area became a kind of “furniture/design” quarter that would be kinda cool – but as Paul_Moloney points out at present it’s all “haus” shops.
There’s a woman who sells flowers on a corner sometimes – usually I feel sorry for her as the passing trade seems non-existent.

one thing that has hurt the area a bit lately is that the throughfare between the corporation buildings has been closed (since at least january) for some sort of construction. that path acted as a nice continuation of essex street and encouraged quite a bit of tourist footfall through the little park between dublinia and temple bar proper.

I have to say West TB is just the most fantastic part of the city. I dont know why it is but i really love walking through it. I was there on Monday and having forgotten my shades i took respite from teh ghlorious sun shine and wandered around with a coffee in the cool shade taking in more of the area than i usually do. If it becomes as popular as “Mainland” TB it will be ruined with sick strewn streets and Mc’donalds packaging clodding the drains. If those drinking reforn laws are passes some cafe style bars and a few cheap but good restuarunts (becuase the price of good food in the city is like so ,much else criminal) it may end up being even more enjoyable. Incidentally i was 20 late for my appointment!