Shopfront race to the bottom
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Batchelor’s Walk
I dunno…maybe its just me! Maybe it looks great..vibrant, dynamic, charming, classy. Maybe I shouldn’t be wearing so much black.
The green is hideous but I actually don’t mind the purple. If they don’t do upkeep on it (which they probably wont) it’s going to look dismal in a few years.
Considering where it’s located, that entire block represents the most appalling stretch of buildings in Dublin. Is there not some way they can force the removal of that advertising? If you did that and painted those ugly building it would go some way towards making that area of Dublin seem less grotty. I think somebody in the City Council needs to stand on O’Connell Bridge and ask themselves what could be done to make this worthy of the dead centre of a capital city. Everywhere you look is grottiness and decay.
Dublin’s latest shop craze appears to be Tourist Information Offices. Apart from the official offices on St Andrews Street and Upper O’Connell Street there are now unofficial offices at the corner with Henry Street (former JWT shop), Batchelors Walk (the big lurid green building) and no less than 2 side by side at College Green/Lwr Grafton Street.
One of the central reasons for this lurid profusion of tackiness is the failure of DCC to create a code of practice for street signage and shop frontage and enforce it with hefty fines for offenders and writs to have offensive and gaudy signage removed within a month. Given the shortage of funds in the DCC this strategy would reap a significant short-term windfall for the DCC which could then be used to fix the many pot-holes, worn road markings and eroded ramps in the city which are a menace to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. The roadworks would also create a good few jobs too.
I was cycling a long ring route from Dorset street to Drumcondra taking photos recently – and it is interesting the way the main area of eyesore today in Dublin do center around the grouping of shopfronts – typically the newsagent, fast food joint, cleaners etc., and mainly because of the incredibly tacky generic signage, and now the proliferation of illegal banners as well, and mainly it has to be said by the brand named stores, as opposed to shops with character – like say Frank’s off Dorset street and a few others.
I say this in contrast with the attitude of earlier generations when one was attracted to the shops, not repelled by them, and the signage was carefully considered to the environment, as opposed to being a generic garish color for wherever – the priority being maintaining the brand. Also the designers of these shopfronts it should be noted seem to follow no particular tradition of shopfront design, or either care or know about what it is they are designing. It begs the questions – where are all the shopfront designers? Did they all just die out? why? surely there was always a demand for decent shopfronts. And where exactly are they all coming from now. Educate the shopfront designers and solve the problem?
Shocking photo. I’d have that shop re-rated by the VO to take account of the value of the outdoor advertising…..
I like Franks. It’s a very urban decay sort of shop front, and (literally) it brings colour. Certainly perfer it to most of the screen-printed signs around town currently.
It does have some almost souk qualities and it is an antidote of sorts to the bland corporate sameness of SPAR et al.
Great photograph.Fast food is quickly becoming the only show in town for many streets…
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0810/nandos.html
That and Tourist Offices (as mentioned before)
At last someone is feeling the heat
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0820/1224302759665.html
What the paper doesn’t say is that all of these new Tourist Offices are without planning permission. At least for their shopfronts. All 5 from O’Connell Street to Grafton Street are within ACAs and yet not one applied for permission to replace their frontage or to add their clutter of signs, banners and stickers. In some cases the units are within protected structures…again a requirement to gain planning permission.
Im not exercised enough to trawl through the ACA policies. Cant imagine they would be of help anyhow.
Winner Irish Times of postcard of modern Ireland competition
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0829/1224303142283.html
so do we like
@StephenC wrote:
Fast food is quickly becoming the only show in town for many streets…
And gaming / amusement arcades.
The old Smallmans plumbing store down the lane Bachelors Way has an application for an amusement centre – reference 2579/11 – as does no. 154 Capel Street, 3093/11.
DCC refused another one at 108 Parnell Street after numerous local objections to it – 2794/11
I don’t know if anybody has noticed, but, somebody has “refurbished” on of the Victorian/Edwardian buildings on Benburb St by painting the brickwork on the ground floor a lurid police siren blue!
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