Newly moved to Balbriggan - what goss should I know!

paulie13

Up until recently, this thread was a useful source of information. Now it seems that there are more posts with people being rude and slagging each other than anything else.

Cop on, and if people find themselves incapable of doing that, they shouldn't bother posting at all

Gillo

paulie13 wrote:

Cop on, and if people find themselves incapable of doing that, they shouldn't bother posting at all

+1

Just for the record, yeah I agree that the Station needs a bit of an overhaul, but as EiliiaK pointed out, it really does sound like it is going to be ripped apart for the work.

Is there any particular reason why it is listed? or is it just that it is old? I really don't see the point of listing everything past a certain age (although let's not go completely off topic here).

Bluetonic

gillo wrote:

Is there any particular reason why it is listed?

It's listed because it has both architectural and historical merit. If you take a look around the various rooms in the building you'll see it still retains the majority of its original features.

It was built in 1853 by the same team who built and designed Amiens Street station. It's one of the only original station buildings left on the northern line. Buildings like Malahide, Skerries and Donabate being rebuilt to a Victorian style later in life.

The problem with the station entrance is one of both accessibility to facilities for the disabled to comply with EU law and also the congestion on using the exit facilities within the station. The latter could be greatly improved by placing an exit (with exit validation) on the southern end of the northern platform allowing an exit onto the prom, and also have another exit (with exit validation) directly from the northern end of the northern platform directly into the car park.

There is a fair bit of talk about replacing the current main station in years to come when electrification of the line reaches Balbriggan. A new station would be built in a new location, land already being reserved. Not at liberty to say anything more.

Bluetonic

paulie13 wrote:

Cop on, and if people find themselves incapable of doing that, they shouldn't bother posting at all

Can I suggest you PM the mod or bring it to feedback, that the correct medium to use if you have a grievance.

Bluetonic

Rumors abound that this premises may be bought to open up a new street with the BOI site which will become available when they rebuild on the site next door.

http://www.cumisky.ie/rm/listings/l0057.shtml

It could be quite nice.

Chinafoot

Right, can we all just relax a little bit here.

Bluetonic, you were bieng unnecessarily rude there, not for the first time either, and I'll thank you to curb that in future.

EmiliaK, don't rise to it. Just report the post.

Paulie13, same to yourself.

Now when I have time I'm going to go through this thread and maybe tidy it up a little bit to remove the crap. I suggest you all get this back on track as I'd rather not have to ban people and/or lock a useful thread.

Oh and if anyone wants to discuss this further I suggest you PM me, do not do it on-thread.

Morpheus

Bluetonic wrote:

Rumors abound that this premises may be bought to open up a new street with the BOI site which will become available when they rebuild on the site next door.

http://www.cumisky.ie/rm/listings/l0057.shtml

It could be quite nice.

That ACTUALLY used to BE a through road. It was an area of common land that many years ago (as in about 50) was gobbled up by a greedy land owner and closed off from public use, but in days gone by it was a continuation of high street across skerries street, through to the market green, coming out facing directly the entrance to the glebe north football pitch.

cailinoBAC

Hey, Is the Central Lounge in the Hotel? I noticed there's a quiz on next Friday in Central Lounge.

Chinafoot

The Central (a.k.a. Fannings) is the pub opposite Deli Burger.

cailinoBAC

Oh dear, I really should have known that...

Bluetonic

Bluetonic wrote: »

Planning permission has been applied fora gym, pool etc.., along with retail at the old Tayto storage facility.

Work is well underway on this. The shell of the buildings are making progress.

SMK

Hi Bluetonic,

Where is that? Is it the building work on the Naul Road?

Thanks

Bluetonic

SMK wrote: »

Where is that? Is it the building work on the Naul Road?

Hi - it's here http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Balbriggan,+Fingal,+Ireland&ie=UTF8&ll=53.604685,-6.18858&spn=0.001474,0.006781&t=h&z=18

The old Tayto building on that site you can see has been removed.

Not sure what the steel frame is on the Naul Road, unlikely it's housing though, looks more like retail units. Can't check either as the Fingal Co Co planning is all over the place since it's 'upgrade'.

Fingleberries

The Steel Frame on the Naul Road appears to be the new site for St. Georges N.S.
I may be wrong (putting two and two together to get five ) but I read recently that they were moving from their current location for the next term to the Naul Road and the building site with the Steel Frame has an NDP sign saying 'School'.

Moonbeam

I couldn't find anything about it online,I had presumed it was for the educate together school though.

Fingleberries

There was an article in the Fingal about it (I can't find a link, but it looks like the Herald ran with the story too. here)

A WELL known north county Dublin national school will be moving to a new site when it re-opens after the summer holidays.

It's the end of an era today for St George's National School on Hampton Street in Balbriggan which has been in the same building since 1859.

But after 149 years, the time has come for the school to move, in a bid to accommodate the growing number of students attending it.

The school is a listed building, so it wasn't possible to make the structural changes required to house an increased number of students in it.

Instead, pupils will come back to school at a site on the Naul Road when the summer holidays are over.

Balbriggan, along with other towns in north county Dublin has seen a significant growth in its population in recent years.

Elayne Browne, said that when she became principal of the school in 2003, it had 39 students enrolled. This had risen to 75 students by last September.

And she said that 200 will be enrolled at the school when it re-opens its doors early in September.

"We will be slightly nostalgic, but we will be happy and positive and delighted at the opportunities presented to us by the move," said Ms Browne yesterday, as the school's last day at its current site loomed.

The school has a lot of history. One of the highlights was when it was visited by President Mary McAleese about three years ago. The school invited her to come, and they were delighted when she did.

Designed by Mr Sandham Symes, the schoolhouse was made of limestone from the Milverton quarries.

The original sash windows in the classrooms were replaced using the original design in 1986.

- Fiona Dillon

Bluetonic

That story is dated today, how very strange.

Anyhow, here's the permission. F08A/0077

2 storey temporary primary school building comprising of 16 classrooms, support teaching spaces and ancillary accommodation with a total floor area of C. 1800m.sq. on a site C. 0.88 hectares. The site works to the school grounds will consist of the provision of cycle storage, bin stores, ballcourts, project gardens, landscaping and boundary treatment and all other associated site development works. The works to the remainder of the site consist of the provision of 32 car parking spaces, drop-off and pick-up facilities and new access road with the option for an alternate internal access road to a proposed future distributor road to the east of this site.

Any idea why all these school buildings in Balbriggan are 'temporary'.

Bluetonic

meditraitor wrote: »

The centre will be located on a 7-acre coastal site at balbriggan in Co. Dublin. [/B]

http://www.irishsealsanctuary.ie/html/home/mcc.htm

Monday, February 9, 2009
Axing of marine centre 'baffling'

PLANS TO develop a national marine conservation centre in north Co Dublin have been axed, despite the fact that Fingal County Council has spent more than €650,000 on consultants for the project.

The council said it feared the €6.65 million project would become a “white elephant” because of a funding shortfall of over €1.65 million and a lack of money to support the centre in its loss-making early years.

The Irish Seal Sanctuary, which has promoted the National Marine Conservation and Education Centre at Bremore, near Balbriggan, described the council’s decision as “baffling, at best, and disingenuous, at worst”.

It claimed the council excluded it from the design of the project and said the shortfall could be significantly reduced if the council went to tender again in the current changed economic climate.

The centre, which was to be the first of its kind in the State, was to provide shelter and treatment for rescued marine wildlife, as well as serving as a tourism attraction.

The council committed €3 million to the project, and Fáilte Ireland €2 million. The original tender, which came in at €9 million, was too expensive, so a scaled-back version of the project, to cost €6.65 million, was drawn up and planning permission was obtained.

The council said it offered money on the basis that a viable proposal was made to develop and run the centre without the need for further financial support. It said the current proposal was unviable and that projected losses of €380,000 in the first three years were “extremely optimistic”.

It has excluded the project from its current three-year capital programme. “The project as currently proposed will not be viable unless the additional funding needed can be found from another partner,” the council’s head of corporate services Peter Caulfield said.

The sanctuary never put forward funding of its own or funding from a third party in support of the proposal, he said. The council was not prepared to put money into a privately run centre unless it had a tourism dimension, but it was not possible to provide this for less than the amount tendered.

Mr Caulfield also defended the spending of €650,000 on “expert services” for the project. He said the unique design of the proposed building necessitated engagement of quantity surveyors, architects and engineers.

Pauline Beades of the Irish Seal Sanctuary said the council had moved the goalposts: “They spent a fortune on it and only then poked holes in the grand plan.”

The sanctuary was confident of raising at least €1 million itself, she said, and had commitments for free building materials. However, these could not be included under the rules of the public private partnership proposed. The decision was an “abuse” of work done by volunteers on the project, she said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0209/1233867927869.html

Lillylilly

Hi all,

Thinking of moving to Balbriggan within the next few months and found all of your opinions very valuble- but swiftly realised that the thread is years old (I'm not an experienced user!).

I'm wondering has much changed regarding the facilities (the proposed swimming pool, Aldi, Tesco etc.)??

We're looking at a house in Bremore Pastures- are there any concerns we should have? We have a viewing soon, but I'd love a head's up... are the walls typical of new developments (paper thin), how's the water pressure??

Also, I don't drive... is this going to be a huge barrier? How is the public transport? I know about the www.Balbriggan.net website, but there's nothing like getting the info off the locals

Thanks,

L.

emsy g

Lillylilly wrote: »

Hi all,

Thinking of moving to Balbriggan within the next few months and found all of your opinions very valuble- but swiftly realised that the thread is years old (I'm not an experienced user!).

I'm wondering has much changed regarding the facilities (the proposed swimming pool, Aldi, Tesco etc.)??

We're looking at a house in Bremore Pastures- are there any concerns we should have? We have a viewing soon, but I'd love a head's up... are the walls typical of new developments (paper thin), how's the water pressure??

Also, I don't drive... is this going to be a huge barrier? How is the public transport? I know about the www.Balbriggan.net website, but there's nothing like getting the info off the locals

Thanks,

L.

I think you should start your own thread with these questions....you could be waiting a LLLOOONNNNGGGG time for a helpful reply here

Balbriggan has a tesco's,supervalue and lidl about the town and then a dunnes and several other shops and places to eat next to hamlet lane,also a cinema (which rarely has anything any good,but of course that's a matter of opinion)
I'm in Balrothery and it's a great area,but never been too gone on balbriggan itself...can't help you on the house front,wouldn't have a clue,sorry
Also i'm not too sure about the swimming pool...again,sorry happy hunting

Lillylilly

Thanks for the quick response- I'm gonna start a new thread now

The Hill Billy

No need to start a new thread - this is the place for these questions. HB

suzieb

Lillylilly wrote: »

Hi all,

Thinking of moving to Balbriggan within the next few months and found all of your opinions very valuble- but swiftly realised that the thread is years old (I'm not an experienced user!).

I'm wondering has much changed regarding the facilities (the proposed swimming pool, Aldi, Tesco etc.)??

We're looking at a house in Bremore Pastures- are there any concerns we should have? We have a viewing soon, but I'd love a head's up... are the walls typical of new developments (paper thin), how's the water pressure??

Also, I don't drive... is this going to be a huge barrier? How is the public transport? I know about the www.Balbriggan.net website, but there's nothing like getting the info off the locals

Thanks,

L.

Hi,
Currently there is no aldi but as far as i know its in the pipeline. The rugby club thats not that far away from Bremore Pstures really is supposed to be getting a swimming pool soon but I'm not sure when exactly or if they have started it(bluetonic might know?)

The tesco in balbriggan is brutal imo,the best supermarket is super value down the town or lidl but dunnes beside bremore pastures is pretty bad with stock(fresh fruit and veg mainly) and I dont know how some of the yokes that work there are managing to keep their job with their contstant sour looking faces.

Bremore is nice enough,dont know too much about it even though its quite near to me but remember when I went to view it not long after moving to balbriggan i noticed a lot of downsides to it esp if looking at duplexes and problems you could see arising with the common areas.
The water pressure in balbriggan is pretty low and the limescale blocks up everything very quickly! You'l notice this mostly in your kettle and shower head...always use Calgon!

Another thing you should do is take a look around the area about 10pm on a saturday night to get an idea if kids are hanging around near houses cos its turning into a nightmare at dunnes with so many kids hanging around all hours of day and night being noisy and some drinking and that but they have few new community gardai who seem to be getting through to some of them finally.

I drive so dont use public transport but from what I hear the train service is good if ya dont mind standing. The bus service is really infrequent(33) but the 101? bus eireann bus runs regularly.
Theres also a town bus service that stops near dunnes and drives around the back of the town and up to train station.

HTH

emsy g

Cool,that's a whole load of info
The only thing I was going to add is that the 101 bus is VERY unreliable.Sometimes you'll wait for 2 minutes but I've had to wait an hour and a half more than once!!Train is the way to get places on time

branners69

As an ex-blow-in-balbrigganer I just want to paint the other side of the picture.

The reason I got out of Balbriggan are 1) Transport 2) The number of houses being built 3) Lack of facilities 4) Poor building planning

To me the above still stand to this day, but you can add extremely high unemployment and high anti-social behaviour. I know these are issues everywhere but reading the papers leads me to believe that they are a bigger concern in Balbriggan than else where.

I lived in Balbriggan 4 years ago and if they had of stopped building on every patch of green it really could have been a superb place to live and raise a family but as usual greed and bad planning ruined it!

My advice save every cent you can and buy smaller but in an established area which has the transport & facilities and has been built to capacity already! For me Balbriggan is a ticking time bomb!

Moonbeam

If you have teenage kids, I would not recommend it.
If you are commuting to the city centre ,I would not recommend it.
If you can afford a nice house elsewhere, I would not recommend it.

Saying that it is not too bad a place and if you are just starting out then you could do a lot worse.

It is cool to have a cinema on your doorstep too.

I would also recommend the older housing estates,there will be more of a sense of community and neighbourliness.


,

Emerald Lass

in regards to supermarkets, the new dunnes on the Road to Drogheda is great - wouth quater or something its called, beside grange rath. Its only about a 15-20 min drive on the old drogheda rd (not M1). Really good - well stocked and has a drapery as well. So far that and a newsagents are the only shops there - sign of the times eh? but I can recommend it, and more chance of it staying put if its supported. I also got vouchers from them - for 4 weeks, spend €10 get €10 voucher discount for next shop etc, week 2 spend €20 get €20 voucher for the next shop!

worth checking out

suzieb

Hope you dont let some of the posts put you off living in balbriggan!

Thinking back theres few things that i left out which i love about living here.

You are two mins away to a small beach which is nice if you have kids.
Loads of little rock pools that kids could easily spend hours playing around in and looking for crabs wit a bit of ham,nice cheap day out.

On the other side theres a long stretch of beach that has some nice little coves if you get a warm day and want to sunbathe and relax. Its less busy than smaller beach when you walk down further and great place to walk a dog.

Its funny 90% people I mostly meet there are east european,free day out and the kids are happier than the ones i see sitting in deli burger stuffing their faces and then prob going home to sit on their asses playing computer games.

Theres ardgillan castle which is short drive/bus ride away. Its a lovely place to go for walks and lovely views over the irish sea. Also has a great playground for kids.

Theres lots of farms nearby and its great living so close to both the city and country and also the beach.

Theres a new youth centre opened in mill st over dominos and it opens 5(or maybe 6) days a week and its great place for teenagers to go and it definitely seems to be attracting them off the streets.They have pool table,fuseball and computers with internet and also a wii and PS.

I grew up in a settled residential area and the kids never had anything to do or places to go except hanging around street corners. So to me balbriggan is at a distinct advantage from other settled areas in that finally the services are starting to appear for youths.

The commute to town is not that bad on the train,my bf takes it regularly and bar having to stand up on it its a very quick reliable service.

I'm out here 2 years and love living here.
Because of living in Balbriggan and taking advantages of all we think it has to offer my bf's son has taken up an interest in fishing,wanting to go on boats 'like the men in the harbour',exercise in that he hates walking but once he gets near the beach he'd walk for miles and loves the outdoors so much we are going camping this year rather than usual sun holiday.

Some of the settled estates prob do have more of a community but I'd be very wary of moving into one without checking it out first.
I was recently talking to a lady working in a shop down town from such an estate and was shocked to hear the rubbish she was talking about when it came to people living here now that shouldnt be cos they werent born and reared here. She told me her and her neighbours "got rid" of two african families(she didnt put it like this) who council put next door as they didnt want any foreigners or outsiders in their estate! Crazy stuff and so narrow minded. Its prob the roughest estate in balbriggan so would pity anyone that moves there unknowingly if they were a "blow in".

anyway thats my tuppence worth.

dub_and_proud

whereabouts in balbriggan is the market if its still goin?

Moonbeam

Down near the entrance to the motorway.(2nd entrance,The Naul one on the Drogheda end of the village)
There is a right turn before you get to the bridge and it is in on the left after htis turn.