The Park, Carrickmines

Hey all

Firstly, in relation to comments I made regarding people who are against any form of development, I wasn’t refering to any posters archiseek:)) But, I do feel that such people do exist.

Secondly, I would broadly agree with the need for a properly planned community sited at Cherrywood. However, that aint going to happen any time soon. And if we are to judge by history, any such development won’t have the necessary facilities but social and commercial for years to come. I am speaking as somebody who grew up in Tallaght. This was supposed to be one of the 3 “New towns” in the 1960s. Yet only in the 2000s did it aquire anything like the amenities of a town.

Therfore, allowing the development of a small “interim” centre at The Park would not be a bad idea. And, as has been pointed out, the immediate area is fairly well served by public transport.

Strangley, I had consistantly heard that Superquinn was linked to a potential development at Carrickmines. Indeed, they were previously linked to Leopardstown SC where Dunnes are now. I thought that Park Developments were part of the Consortium that bought Superquinn, but maybe I am mistaken?

I would also like to echo what other posters are saying about Dun Laoghaire. I have always found the Main St to be very drab. There are suprisingly few nice restaurants there and even fewer shops. That just leaves the countless fast food outlets and the hideous shopping centre. Speaking of which, I have heard that an impressive range of Victorian buildings were demolished to make way for this development. Pearson makes refence to in in his book “Between the Mountains and Sea” but I don’t thin there is a picture.

Furthermore, the failure to redevelop/improve the Harbour area during the boom when money was readily available will be regarded as a missed opportuinity. But I don’t want to open that can of worms!! I don’t think you can cast the failure of Dun Laoghaire as a town centre as an indigenous Irish vs International retailer issue. Its simply that a rot has set in for a long time.

C

Interesting slant.
However, we are talking about retailing, not offices/residential.

While some things have improved, it has taken an age and some were improved sooo long ago that it is not appropriate to mention them in today’s context or with an influence on retailing..

For decades the pavilion lay derelict – now it’s fancy apartments and a theatre and a row of restaurants/cafes facing the sea, with a new small park due to appear over a covered in railway and the statue of two bits of phallic rust consigned to the bin.

It was completed years ago. The Marine road side is dead below the Royal Marine entrance – even the book shop is in administration, possibly because it has a gym, theatre entrance and a semi-basement ships chandlers. Closing the PO killed a huge footfall – were it still there the traffic generation would be much higher and connect Georges St with seafront retail.

The pier is improved with better paving and rails and a restored victorian canopy shelter and bandstand

Yes, East Pier was improved – by Harbour Co, not DLRCC – but the Chinese granite cobbles are now patched with tarmac. The Victoriana is semi-repaired, as the shelter is still railed off. The Battery is closed, even in summer.

The Marina is tidier than the arrangement before and must generate some local business.

The moorings where the now stands were owned by the George & Irish. They were strings, so were neat & tidy. Very little business generated by marina traffic, very few foreign boats visit the E coast. Also it’s far simpler to bring your booze/picnic with you from home. Apart from the Thursday night/Saturday crowd, there is little movement – many boats are celtic tiger status symbols that rarely leave their berths – look at the weed growing on them. Some owners would not even know if their boat was still there or even afloat.

The national yacht club has been restored and the interior has been done well for the first time in years

Its exterior and the RSGYC have always looked good. Haven’t been in the NYC for yonks, but it is a private club so not relevant. I like the extension on the George, not pastiche and not in your face.

The new shopping centre is very anonymous but at least well hidden unlike the monstrous poo-coloured industrial box from the 70s that badly needs nuking.

Agreed

The town hall is beautifully looked after, the extension is not too bad, the new adjacent apartment buildings and offices are well finished.

Agreed, but to many it is a drab building and it does nothing for retail.

The Royal Marine Hotel is way better outside and in since they knocked the horrid extension and replaced it with something far less offensive.

Haven’t noticed it so it must be an improvement

The original carlisle pier ironwork should have been been retained but it’s a relief to see the harbour vista reopened and the rotten modern sheath removed.

The ironwork was a few cast iron pillars / roof supports; the removal of the asbestos shed is a huge improvement. How long more will it be a building site?

There are lots of quirky characteristic bits in Dun Laoghaire like the Victoria monument and the obelisk balanced on balls.

Agreed. Some lovely Victorian/Edwardian buildings on side streets. Must look at those balls again, the IRA reduced them to three and the corpo had a block of wood there for decades.

40ft seems to have failed a few times now. People don’t like going upstairs to a pub and I think it may need a change of use to succeed.

People don’t like going upstairs, ‘cept to bed. That’s why we have such a high level of obesity.

The seafront walk form the harbour to Sandycove is much improved and has a nice community atmosphere in the evenings.

Really?? nothing has changed here for decades. You must have had your eyes shut walking past the Baths. The old metal bars on the seafront wall have almost rusted through, there is graffiti on the breakwater rocks, the path/walk on the seaward side is broken in several places and the park between the baths and the Pier is a litter-strewn, grafittied, pigeon-infested tip.

There is some very good housing stock close to the town centre along places like Mulgrave Street, Clarinda Park, Crosthwaite Park, Northumberland Ave, Tivoli Terrace

Agreed, if you exclude the pre-66 conversions and acres of shitty cheapo windows. but what has that to do with retail?

A few nice building such as the Commissioners of Irish Lights eco building on Harbour Road

The CIL building is very nice – I commented on it on this site before and was surprised that nobody made any subsequent comment.

The people’s park is in good shape. Sandycove and Monkstown are distinctive more upmarket neighbours in easy reach.

Agreed, the Park is well maintained, if not a bit gaudy, has a nice Farmer’s market. Glasthule has successfully re-engineered itself as “Sandycove” (sounds much nicer) with some twee shops but will there be a market for free-range organic carrots next year?

Dun Laoghaire is well connected to the city by rail and bus and has a large, up-market catchment area. I see it as a great location for offices – staff like working there – and I’d expect to see some of the retail converted back to office use.

All that will do is create more Spars / Centras. Already M&S does most of its business at lunchtime for the sandwich brigade.

I think the threat from Dundrum is far overstated.

Dundrum is doing the business, although I would expect a few closures due to the R word and disposable income. Dun Laoghaire is not, and has a history of decline. It did not move with the times to keep up with Cornellscourt c 1970, unions prohibited late opening, and the town started its decline. Then Stillorgan shopping centre opened, was seen as “nicer” (read “less common”) and DL took another hit. The tourist trade declined – working-class Brits went to Ibiza instead of taking the ferry to DL and staying in a kippy B&B. DL will not be able to claw its way back – it is just a strip-mall broken by office developments, and retail will decline further as more units are converted to retail.

DLRCC is a disaster, a morass of lethargy and BS. Take for example the Parks or Roads Depts.
Killiney & Dalkey hill parks are scruffy, weed-infested, dog-pooed dumps. Yes, put up a few swings, whatever, but ignore the fabric of the place. Roads – Vico Road has been closed to traffic since early January. Now, in any town would its most scenic road be closed with NOTHING being done for four months? Look at the new filter lane at the junction of Rochestown Av and Johnstown road. Has anyone ever seen a filterlane narrow down to the width of a cycle lane?
Must brig a camera next time I go up there.
K

@thebig C wrote:

BTW, is it true that the Victoria Memorial was demolished/vandalised as part of a H block protest in the early 1980s?

Not sure if it was a H-Block protest, it certainly was done by the shinners of the day and its renovation and restoration was done on the basis that it would not be “revandalized. Also heard that a certain amount of “consultation” took place before it was put back.
K.

um yes I seem to have wandered off topic from retail provision in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown to ‘Is Dun Laoghaire a declining kip or not?’. In short you get a shrinking of retail demand after a boom and some premises will be returned to office/residential.There is more to the measure of a town than its retail floor area.