simp

@jdivision wrote:

it’s different to other areas. There’ll be a Thomas Reads pub, a Starbucks, a few health shops and an O’Brien’s sandwich bar there too. We want to bring something a bit different,

That all sounds pretty generic to me…

And as for Fresh… I went in there the other night to get some parsley. It took three (very helpful) shop assistants to establish between them what parsely was. And no, they didn’t have any.

There are already two excellent destination retailers just off the square – Little Italy (http://www.littleitalyltd.com/) and Kish Fish (http://www.kishfish.ie) – but neither have been incorporated into the new retail plans. Fresh’s fish comes from Wrights of Howth (and seems to just lie there rotting all day from what I can see). And while there is some crossover between Little Italy’s range and Fresh’s, the difference in price is striking. A tin of premium Cirio tomatoes costing 99c in the former, retails for e1.79 in the latter.

The Smithfield development has all the character and genuineness of an airport. It’s all about fleecing yuppies who don’t know better, while quietly sidelining the actual culture of the area.