the boatclub is closing..

ellenmelon

this has been posted on the LBC myspace...

Hello. Sorry to bother you but we’ve got important news. The rumours are true. The Boatclub is shutting down. The law finally realised that our loyal gig goers had very little interest in boats so we’re not getting our license back. Added to that some developer is taking a wrecking ball to the place in the new year to build some swanky new apartments. A**hole. Anyway we’re shutting down in just over a month and we’d really appreciate your support at all the gigs before we go. There’s bills to be paid! All the gigs are on the profile (there’s loads) and if it’s okay I might post some on your page another time (if that’s not okay, just say so!) Thank you for all your support. Please post a comment on our profile if you have a favourite memory and we might put them all together for nostalgia’s sake. Thanks again. The LBC boys.

i am so gutted about this cause its a really great wee venue and the lads who run it are super. im also royally peed off that stupid fecking apartments are going to be put up in its place. what the hell is with this? why do we need more apartments over a good wee venue that added loads to the limerick nightlife? another development company ruining limerick knocking down bits of limerick history and culture and putting up shiney new apartment blocks for the rich and snooty which end up looking aged in a couple of years.

ugh. much disgust.

motormouthmable

wasn't it like that [EDIT]Pier One of course, not aubars (why should they do a beer garden there!:D)[EDIT] tried to do a beer garden at the monument on the bridge and applied to move the monument??

and now an apartment block there? fecking greedy bastards! but with money you obviously can do everything in this f*cking city: taking away public space from a public park for apartment blocks, taking away a public road for a hotel, building apartment blocks where a boat club is (in the middle of the river??? who owns that land?) ...

ellenmelon

motormouthmable wrote:

wasn't it like that aubars tried to do a beer garden at the monument on the bridge and applied to move the monument??

and now an apartment block there? fecking greedy bastards! but with money you obviously can do everything in this f*cking city: taking away public space from a public park for apartment blocks, taking away a public road for a hotel, building apartment blocks where a boat club is (in the middle of the river??? who owns that land?) ...

greedy bastards indeed. and you just know those apartments are going to be dull as dishwater. that wee venue was just lovely! i had a party in there and it was great.
id say its owned privately and they lease it from the sounds of things?

motormouthmable

ellenmelon wrote:

greedy bastards indeed. and you just know those apartments are going to be dull as dishwater.

doesn't matter - it's another typical irish building: cracks in every wall after 6 month. have you ever lived here in a house without cracks in the walls?

id say its owned privately and they lease it from the sounds of things?

but someone in cuty council has to see tha plans, has to nod and has to give his ok.

ellenmelon

motormouthmable wrote:

doesn't matter - it's another typical irish building: cracks in every wall after 6 month. have you ever lived here in a house without cracks in the walls?



but someone in cuty council has to see tha plans, has to nod and has to give his ok.

i wonder were there any objections to it? it seems a lot of things like planning applications etc are done on the hush hush, behind closed doors and all that.or some brown envelopes change hands (ok, ok im taking the piss but you never know! ).a small notice goes in the paper and a wee board goes up so by the time someone notices something like this is going to happen, its too late to put a written objection. the councillors in limerick are so unaware of what the longterm effects of what they sign off cause they are so worried what their public profile is, instead of what is right for the people.especially when local elections come round.

ellenmelon

motormouthmable wrote:

doesn't matter - it's another typical irish building: cracks in every wall after 6 month. have you ever lived here in a house without cracks in the walls?

sorry, didnt answer your question properly. my family lived in a fairly young house that was suffering some fierce subsidence from the looks of things..huge big cracks by doors etc and anywhere with heavy foot traffic. maybe the concrete houses are too heavy for the squishy, damp irish soil?
my new flat in the city center was going the same way..its like anywhere where the houses are thrown up as quickly as possible, there are bound to be probs later on..

irishguy

Thats a pity, had some good gigs there and the lads were sound.

Isnt the boatclub a protected structure? It was built in 18 somthing

motormouthmable

irishguy wrote:

Isnt the boatclub a protected structure? It was built in 18 somthing

Well, I hope they are not talking about the big house on the same level as the brigde is. I think it's the "shelter" down at the river level.

This would be a real scandal!

irishguy

No its the smaller one, which is still old but in need of restoring. It would make a savage pub if it was done up and a nice beer garden added.

sioda

They cant build apartments on the boat club site you cant get planning permission for any apartment building without X amont of parking per apartment on the site.

Plus if they wanted to build there they would have to smash up some of the bridge and probably close it for a while this aint going to happen

Pity bout the venue though was a good little spot jusy what limerick really needed

hobie

No its the smaller one

once went to a Stag Night there ..... I always thought it was a $$$$$$$ dangerous place to have a Stag ..... it can be a long way down to the water depending on Tide status ..... :rolleyes:

Amazotheamazing

The won't get permission to knock the boat club buildings, especially with the Clarke memorial and the fact that access would be a narrow road off a bridge. How would you park a car, has anyone ever seen a road or driveway off that narrow a bridge?

It's a shame the place is closing, but it a sporting club and not a bar.

Will the re-open somewhere else?

limerick_man

"The law finally realised that our loyal gig goers had very little interest in boats so we’re not getting our license back" .. haha, maybe it was the advertising that gave it away!!! :P

Shame though, was there for riverfest... great little spot, a weekend i will not forget in a hurry!

LB6

Anyone got anything more def from Boat Club or City Council. My son rows there!

ellenmelon

LB6 wrote:

Anyone got anything more def from Boat Club or City Council. My son rows there!

you may be confused? it isnt st michaels thats closing..its the wee brick building on the river itself on a wee island kind of thing and i dont think theres been rowing there for a while now

LB6

Not confused at all.

"the wee brick building " as you call it, is called Limerick Boat Club and has been used and is still being used to this day.

They've even just put in a new slipway in the slip stream between the boat club and Poor Man's Kilkee!

billy the squid

City planning office say that no planning applications have been received and that it is a listed building.

LB6

Thank you Billy. That's good news.

Some kids from Collaiste Chiarain and Laurel Hill row there. Was dreading having to split him up from his crew!

ellenmelon

LB6 wrote:

Not confused at all.

"the wee brick building " as you call it, is called Limerick Boat Club and has been used and is still being used to this day.

They've even just put in a new slipway in the slip stream between the boat club and Poor Man's Kilkee!

sorry, im obviously mistaken. no need to be sarcastic and condescending.

shane2005

LB6 wrote:

Anyone got anything more def from Boat Club or City Council. My son rows there!

Why don't you ask him to find out?

Amazotheamazing

LB6 wrote:

Anyone got anything more def from Boat Club or City Council. My son rows there!

I didn't realise they still had rowers, great to hear Limerick are back on the scene, even as a Michaels man I'm glad to see Limerick still going. best of luck to your sons crew.

Pye

billy the squid wrote:

City planning office say that no planning applications have been received and that it is a listed building.

That's good to know. It seems that everything is getting knocked and made into vile flats and housing estates these days. ,

billy the squid

And for those who think that the boatclubs status as a protected structure will prevent it from being demolished, I have three words for you

Peoples Park Apartments.

ellenmelon

billy the squid wrote:

And for those who think that the boatclubs status as a protected structure will prevent it from being demolished, I have three words for you

Peoples Park Apartments.

agreed. would we be really surprised if they developed it? i dont think so, sadly.

Amazotheamazing

billy the squid wrote:

And for those who think that the boatclubs status as a protected structure will prevent it from being demolished, I have three words for you

Peoples Park Apartments.

There's been several cases of developers being forced to rebuild listed buildings if they knock them, I doubt they'll get away with knocking the boatclub.

People also seem to be forgetting there was old delapidated buildings on the site in the people's Park anyway, the new structure is certainly bigger, but in height I think, not area plan.

ellenmelon

well, as a quick example of limerick city's failure to keep some of its, while not protected are old and therefore of value buildings is why there wasnt more of the movie "angela's ashes" filmed in limerick...there wasnt enough period buildings to film in and around so they filmed most of it in cork.
as a city, there are not a lot of nice old buildings left in it like other cities. yes, there are some, but if you compare it to other towns and villages (i spose thats whats theyre called?) its pretty lacking.as an outsider i was kinda disapointed at it as i was expecting more nice old buildings, considering the citys long history. the city council pretty much let these things happen and instead of conserving them they let developers knock them (especially in the 70s it seems) and build eyesores to replace them.
they never should have used any of the peoples park as it is a public area and any use apart from this defeats the purpose of it being a peoples park. the council obviously values money over green space and natural beauty.
so dont be surprised, amazo, if the boatclub dissapears one day. it would be sad, but it wouldnt be a surprise.

Amazotheamazing

ellenmelon wrote:

well, as a quick example of limerick city's failure to keep some of its, while not protected are old and therefore of value buildings is why there wasnt more of the movie "angela's ashes" filmed in limerick...there wasnt enough period buildings to film in and around so they filmed most of it in cork.
as a city, there are not a lot of nice old buildings left in it like other cities. yes, there are some, but if you compare it to other towns and villages (i spose thats whats theyre called?) its pretty lacking.as an outsider i was kinda disapointed at it as i was expecting more nice old buildings, considering the citys long history. the city council pretty much let these things happen and instead of conserving them they let developers knock them (especially in the 70s it seems) and build eyesores to replace them.
they never should have used any of the peoples park as it is a public area and any use apart from this defeats the purpose of it being a peoples park. the council obviously values money over green space and natural beauty.
so dont be surprised, amazo, if the boatclub dissapears one day. it would be sad, but it wouldnt be a surprise.

Sadly Ellen, you've hit upon an Irish trait, not just a Limerick one. Much of colonial Dublin and Cork was destroyed, and Galway was brutalised 20 years ago, destroying almost all it's medieval heritage. As a country, we are extremely bad at preserving our past.

The council has to prioritise money over greenspace, since the boundary extension conspires to keep the city finances in extremely poor health. We all want more parkland, but we also want services etc, which come with high running costs. Imo, both the city and county councils hould be abolished, with only one authority, (Limerick council) representing both city and county. Since most of the council's business are run by civil services, I don't see how it would impact negatively to only have one council.

The Boatclub won't be knocked, I'm completely certain of that.

Spengman

I had to do a project last year on the commercial history of Limerick and while researching it i was flabbergasted:eek: at how much this city has lost, the city centre has been absolutely destroyed in the last 40 years! Its actually been criminal, i dont know what the planners of the day were smoking but they've made absolute s*** of the place. Limerick had a beautiful city centre until the 1960s took hold, it seems that the Todds fire was a huge watershed in the history of the city centre. The replacement building with its early 60s curtain walling was the 1st of its kind in the city and seemed to set a precedent!

The old Royal George Hotel was demolished in the early 60s and was replaced with the hideous structure that stood until recently, (it has been reclad since).

Cannocks(Now Penneys) demolished its beautifully ornate 18th Century Facade in the mid 60s!

Beautiful cut stone Munster & Leinster Bank(AIB) was demolished in the 70s to make way for the monster that currently occupies the site.

The Bank of Ireland were allowed demolish several georgian buildings to construct their current premises in the early 1980s

There are several other examples, much of Patrick Street was levelled in the 70s and 80s, many georgian buildings on William street have also been sacrificed, like at the junction of O Connell/William Street where Keanes and H Samuel now occupy.Tylers Jewellers where burger king is now. Also Cannocks original premises where the Williamscourt Mall now stands!

Todds was probably the biggest loss of all given its prominent location and basically because almost a whole block was destroyed. The present structure gives that part of the city centre a pretty tacky feel!, ironic seen as its supposed to be the city's most upmarket store!




Below: Cannocks and present day Roches Stores

ellenmelon

Spengman wrote:

I had to do a project last year on the commercial history of Limerick and while researching it i was flabbergasted:eek: at how much this city has lost, the city centre has been absolutely destroyed in the last 40 years! Its actually been criminal, i dont know what the planners of the day were smoking but they've made absolute s*** of the place. Limerick had a beautiful city centre until the 1960s took hold, it seems that the Todds fire was a huge watershed in the history of the city centre. The replacement building with its early 60s curtain walling was the 1st of its kind in the city and seemed to set a precedent!

The old Royal George Hotel was demolished in the early 60s and was replaced with the hideous structure that stood until recently, (it has been reclad since).

Cannocks(Now Penneys) demolished its beautifully ornate 18th Century Facade in the mid 60s!

Beautiful cut stone Munster & Leinster Bank(AIB) was demolished in the 70s to make way for the monster that currently occupies the site.

The Bank of Ireland were allowed demolish several georgian buildings to construct their current premises in the early 1980s

There are several other examples, much of Patrick Street was levelled in the 70s and 80s, many georgian buildings on William street have also been sacrificed, like at the junction of O Connell/William Street where Keanes and H Samuel now occupy.Tylers Jewellers where burger king is now. Also Cannocks original premises where the Williamscourt Mall now stands!

Todds was probably the biggest loss of all given its prominent location and basically because almost a whole block was destroyed. The present structure gives that part of the city centre a pretty tacky feel!, ironic seen as its supposed to be the city's most upmarket store!

man,roches and penneys looked so classy! now theyre just butt ugly and its kinda sad.

Demondaze

Whoa, that building where Penney's is now was really nice. The clock was much prettier, too.

Pye

Aren't they about to knock yet even more old buildings for a new shopping centre? Not sure where I heard this, but it doesn't sound good.