urbanisto
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@StephenC wrote:
Here’s a snap of the less than desireous shopfront on Mary Street. A prime pitch on the city’s premier retail street should be aspiring to a lot better than this. The window transfers seem to be obligatory.
Retention permission for this shopfront refused by DCC:
1. The shopfront, by virtue of the provision of substandard design, a horizontally emphasised appearance that does not relate to the existing architectural context of the building in terms of building line, the provision of substandard materials in the form of plywood fascia board and plasticated lettering, the provision of external downlighters, the provision of opaque/patterned screens to the main windows and the provision of external roller shutters is contrary to the Shopfront Design Guide and the Shop Front Design Guidelines for the O’Connell Street Area and to Sections 17.25.2 and 17.25.3 and Policy RD7 of the Dublin City Development Plan 2011-2017. The development has a seriously injurious impact on the character and setting of a protected structure and on visual amenity of the immediate conservation area and protected structures and would depreciate the value of property in the vicinity. Consequently, it would set an adverse precedent for similarly substandard development, is contrary to the provisions of the Dublin City Development Plan 2011-2017 and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
Yay!!!!! New wayfinder signage finally going in across the city. The observant among you may have noticed some changes! According to an informed source, the main city centre should be completed by 17th March in time for Paddy’s Day and the traditional start of the tourist season. The second phase (essentially taking in areas currently missing and installing 20 new map panels) should happen by end of summer.
Some examples of the newly installed signage on Westmoreland Street (with some decluttering of empty poles…anyone notice?) and Parliament Street.
I look forward to seeing the programme progress.
Interesting to note (and weird of me to notice, I know!) that Costa have removed the flag banners and protecting signage from their unit on College Green. And that the Thai restaurant on Westmoreland Street has removed its unauthorized projecting signage. And that the unauthorized Chinese restaurant at 76 Dame Street has now applied for retention change of use. Interesting that…
God yeah….until the Second Coming of The Lord when it will be seated at the righthand of the City Fathers.
It appear that Sierra are doing some works to the pavement/roadway here but its not clear what. A widened pavement is the very least that can be achieved with the cycle parking removed. Other cheap and easy immediate options for College Green:
1 remove unused items of street furniture such as telephone kiosks (who would make a call here!)
2. replace the ugly industrial street lighting. I would suggest a column similar to those at the GPO as an interim measure.
3. declutter all that extra rubbish signage put in place for BusGate. we know it is there now.
4. remove all the brown finger signage (including Mr Waxy Museums colection) and install proper wayfinding.Of course the whole area needs a thorough analysis and a visionary plan but in the meantime lets just do some basic things! The above could be done in a matter of days and I bet the the result would be striking.
See a related thread about cleaning up tatty shopfronts.
Well done An Taisce! once again highlighting the appalling sham that is local government in the city and the terrible venality of some of the merchant class who just cant see the bigger picture beyond their own crappy, PVC-clad, flood-lit, poster-plastered patches.
Im quite surprised at how aggressively Tesco are expanding given the current retail market. Thomas Street, Fairview, Fleet Street and now Smithfield. And all in competition with Centras or Spars and the like. I suppose it is welcome to see someone take the unit and its was always to be expected that a retailer like Tesco would turn up on Smithfield Sq – surely the whole point of all those retail units. Its strange about The Complex. I thought it would develop into something more permanent but it appears to be one of those informal cultural/arts hubs that are springing up about the city but without any sense of longevity or long term purpose. Still there is LOTS of space among the units of Smithfield Market, so they can surely change to a less high profile spot.
Still given all the problems with retail in the city centre its a big leap of faith by Tesco.
Dont you know mixing tarmac with top quality granite is sooo a la mode!
The monstrous streetlamp in the right of that photo has to be the most ugly in the city in terms of location. I love the two strap-ons added as part of the College Gate scheme….classy that. I know there is no money (a mantra for the coming decade) to redesign CG, but at the very least DCC could put in some good quality lighting.
I cant disagree with anything you say here Smithfield Resi! Its all a load of old cobblers – if you pardon the pun.
Re poles: If I am not mistaken DCC Planners put a condition on the works specifying a restrained approach to poles and signage. I must dig that out.
Lighting: Another small but annoying point- the lightstand installed at the pedestrian crossing on N King Street is different again from anything else on the street. One of the usual galvanised steel industrial park efforts so beloved of DCC Lighting. Why? Why not use the same repros as found further down the street. Why not use the opportunity to install a consistent lighting scheme all the way up N. King Street to Church Street? I dont get it. Why doesnt anyone see these small but inportant points.Meanwhile, back to the bigger picture – the restaurant beside the Lighthouse closes…the area is littered with empty units….”development sites” lie undeveloped and falling into ruin and dereliction….. and no one really wants to go to Smithfield. Why would they? What for? I fear for the future of the Lighthouse (it looks like such an architectural white elephant now). Yesterday was the first time I have been there when the auditorium I was in was full (and I make a point of supporting the place). Its usually got a handful of people there and is utterly devoid of atmosphere. The cafe is more like a surgery and all that empty space makes its feel even more lifeless.
Dublin city centre is falling apart in my view….and I dont know what to do about it. It seems I am not alone.
You are not being entirely fair Smithfield Resi. The car space you highlight is the old parking area which is to be replaced by a new landscaped area. The empty poles probably relate to those and are likely to be removed once works on this section commence. The tarmac lump are a result of the removal of light stands and I imagine they too will be repaired with cobbles. The work is undoubtedly shoddy looking at present but it is a work in process. Signage is a mess all over the city: I see a new post for the interminably delayed wayfinder scheme, perhaps that will negate the need for these other fingerposts. I don’t know what the “bunker” is for….all will be revealed by summer.
The notice about parking isn’t really conflicting….at the end of the day its saying that you cant park on the square and that if you do you will be clamped. No doubt some residents don’t see the square as the big civic space that it is meant to be. And sometimes our council don’t either.
The main part of the southern section of the square has been cleared of trees and cobbles ready for relaying. A notice says that works will be completed by end of summer 2011.
@GrahamH wrote:
This is almost certainly the oldest building on O’Connell Street. It is extraordinary that one of the first buildings to be built on Gardiner’s Mall is also one of the last to survive, and even more so next to the cauldron that was the GPO.
A new application for the JWT premises and adjoining buildings on O’Connell Street/Henry Street. No documents posted as yet
Reg Ref 2058/11
http://www.dublincity.ie/swiftlg/apas/run/WPHAPPDETAIL.DisplayUrl?theApnID=2058/11&backURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=1422627%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E%20%3E%20%3Ca%20href=’wphappsearchres.displayResultsURL?ResultID=1777534%26StartIndex=1%26SortOrder=APNID:asc%26DispResultsAs=WPHAPPSEARCHRES%26BackURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=1422627%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E’%3ESearch%20Results%3C/a%3EI made a complaint to DCC Planning Enforcement about the Nokia sign (aka the Baileys sign) last September but haven’t heard anything since. How fast should the wheels of enforcement work.
The Londis in your image was resolved Morlan. The unit was knocked through to create an adjoining cafe. It may well have popped up already as it has been in place for a while.
@GrahamH wrote:
Most European cities employ well designed tables and chairs spilling out in an orderly manner onto the pavement.
Yes, those pesky Europeans with their weird continental ways
And of course heaven forbid you should pull out all the stops. Remember the suite of kiosks originally planned for O’Connell Street…outdoor cafes, paper and flower sellers….hmm wonder what happened there
And of course the good news:
John Brereton buys West of Grafton Street
DUBLIN jewellers John Brereton have bought the former West jewellers shop at 33 Grafton Street, Dublin 2 for almost €5 million. The vendor was businessman Joe Moran of housebuilders Manor Park Homes.
West of Grafton Street was one of the longest established firms in the State. It originally opened in Capel Street in 1720, relocated to College Green in 1845, later to 102 Grafton Street where River Island now trades and in 1965 it opened in its current premises at the junction of Grafton Street and South Anne Street.
The four-storey over basement building is in need of considerable upgrading. It has an overall floor area of 194sq m (2,088sq ft) including 55sq m (535sq ft) on the ground floor. The new owners plan to use three floors as retail space possibly including the first floor area of 33.2sq m (360sq ft) and the basement which extends to 35.3sq m (380sq ft).
John Brereton Jewellers also has a long tradition of trading in Dublin having been set up in Capel Street in 1916. It also has shops in O’Connell Street and Chatham Street. Lisa McGrane of Jones Lang LaSalle handled the sale.
Good to see an indigenous name on Grafton Street. Shame to lose that lurid green though.
What a shame to see two good quality stalwarts of Dame Street shut their doors in the past couple of weeks. Toni & Guy closed last week, after a good quality refurbishment of their premises towards the end of last year, while The Mermaid and neighbouring Gruel (so beloved of DCC planners and heritage/conservation intelligensia 🙂 ) closed before Christmas. Mermaid occupies one of the most high profile buildings on the street, albeit one in need of a painting. Its seems the high rents demanded of its owner weren’t directed towards the upkeep of the place.
An article on the reasons for the Mermaid’s closure in the Irish Times today:
“Mark Harrell, owner of the now defunct Mermaid Cafe and Gruel restaurants, has said: “It will be the small, interesting restaurants that go. It’s not going to be the Starbucks and the McDonald’s. But then what’s left? Where’s the interest? Where’s the joy?”
Mermaid Cafe owner criticises rent practices
LAURA SLATTERYTHE OWNERS of the defunct Mermaid Cafe and Gruel restaurants in Dublin have hit out at the “short-sighted” behaviour of landlords, which they say will force many city traders out of business and ruin the character of the capital.
Mark Harrell and Ben Gorman, who first opened the Mermaid Cafe on Dame Street in 1996, said the principal reason for the closure of the two restaurants was “the intransigence of landlords who still demand boom-time rents with their upward-only review mechanisms still in place”.
The award-winning Mermaid and its more casual sister restaurant Gruel ceased trading on December 23rd, having managed to secure only a “tiny” reduction in rent from its landlady. The company behind them is now in liquidation, with the loss of 30 jobs. Mr Harrell said “part of the fabric of Temple Bar” was now gone.
“I fear for Dublin if this is the way the culture is going to go. It will just become temporary traders and boarded-up shops,” Mr Harrell said.
It will be “a very busy year” for restaurant closures in the city, he predicted, with levels of custom during January and February – traditionally quiet for the industry – likely to force several traders out.
“It will be the small, interesting restaurants that go. It’s not going to be the Starbucks and the McDonald’s. But then what’s left? Where’s the interest? Where’s the joy?”
The combined rent on the two restaurants at 68 and 69 Dame Street was €190,000. When Mr Harrell and Mr Gorman opened the Mermaid, at number 69, in 1996, the rent was £15,000.
At their peak, the restaurants employed 45 people. The owners cut back to a core group of 30 after the slowdown in consumer spending led to an initial drop of business of 25 per cent. At one point, trade was down 40 per cent.
The restaurants were also affected by a lack of custom during the snowy weather at the start of 2010 and the lack of visitors to Dublin in April 2010 when flights were suspended due to volcanic dust. Extreme weather conditions before Christmas saw a further dramatic fall-off in trade.
Although this was the “final nail”, the main reason for the closures was the failure of the rent negotiations, Mr Harrell said.
The lease on the premises featured now-banned upward-only rent review clauses. The Government has passed legislation prohibiting these clauses in new leases but this has not helped the thousands bound by the old contracts.
Mr Harrell is now living in Britain, while Mr Gorman is moving to Spain. Although the restaurant game was “a struggle at the best of times”, Mr Harrell said if he was “20 years younger” he would consider getting involved again. “But I certainly wouldn’t do it in Dublin.”
