Renting in Castle Park???

hamsterboy

Hi All
Myself and my GF are trying to move a bit closer to the city as at the mo we're 13 miles outside.
We're looking at a house to rent in Castle Park, Ballybane today but I was just wondering if this area is a rough as it used to be.
I did live in the Rahylin Glebe area before and it was ok I guess but this is a bit deeper into the estate....

Anyway, any thoughts would be appriciated....cheers

SimpleSam06

Ah its grand, once you prepare yourself properly. I recommend a loyal and intelligent dog, tricked out black Ford Falcon XB Coupe, and some natty leather duds. And maybe a sidekick in an ultralight. Its a bit like getting on the bus to Sligo. You'll be alright once you know what to expect.

Edit: Damn dirty hotlinkers

Zzippy

hamsterboy wrote:

Hi All
Myself and my GF are trying to move a bit closer to the city as at the mo we're 13 miles outside.
We're looking at a house to rent in Castle Park, Ballybane today but I was just wondering if this area is a rough as it used to be.
I did live in the Rahylin Glebe area before and it was ok I guess but this is a bit deeper into the estate....

Anyway, any thoughts would be appriciated....cheers

Are you effin mad?! There's loads of places to rent, I wouldn't go near Castle Park in an armoured vehicle.......

smackbunnybaby

all i am going to say is dont live there.

fish fingers

tis rough still for sure

tred

Some parts of it are fine. If you go nearer the back, then where hillside was, thats dodgy, but u woiuldnt get a house there anyway id say. If you want ping me, as a buddy of mine is looking to rent his house in Mervue near post office, to a couple. hes intervewing next week i think!! interviewing imagine that!!

nonamemark

I'd stay well clear of it man. I've been living in Ballybane for the past 3 years on and off, it's not rough as such since all the knackers are more or less kids but I'd prefer to live in town or in Wellpark, it's just handy where I am now for college and work

hamsterboy

Well, time for an update. We drove up to the house last night, slowed down, then sped outta the area as fast as my little car would go. We would have had to run a gauntlet of knuckle-walking, shaven-headed, Elizabeth Duke-wearing, mouth-breathers to even get into the house!!!!
Who the hell will rent that place!!!!!

Anyway, I kinda expected that so the search goes on!!!!!!!

Wompa1

Good for you!, you learned in a matter of minutes what the rats wish they learned years ago, you'd of been surrounded by pure filth

SimpleSam06

hamsterboy wrote:

Well, time for an update. We drove up to the house last night, slowed down, then sped outta the area as fast as my little car would go. We would have had to run a gauntlet of knuckle-walking, shaven-headed, Elizabeth Duke-wearing, mouth-breathers to even get into the house!!!!
Who the hell will rent that place!!!!

Are you sure? I have a slightly used crossbow (one careful lady owner) and jingly leather boots priced to sell if you change your mind! Or possibly some tyres if you didn't manage to make it out with all of yours after your visit...

altered121

how rough is this place? I thought I had visited the wrong city board- there is also a castlepark in Limerick with a rep. for being hard.
I have not really encountered any place in Galway that is really rough - this may be cos I was de-sensitised by time in Dublin and Limerick.

Do these heads just look hard or have they earned their reputations?

gaeilgegrinds

It's very rough to be honest. Had a friend living there when I was in secondary school & her mother wouldn't let us walk to the shop, she insisted on driving us. We were 14. Awful when a place gets such a bad reputation because I'm sure there are genuinely lovely people living there but it's very rough unfortunately.

mikemac

Sigh, talk about overreactions here.
I lived in Ballybrit (similar rep to Castlepark)and walked and cycled everyday to and from GMIT through Castlepark as it was faster than going through Ballybane. This was 2002-2004.
In that time, I got ZERO hassle from anyone in Castlepark.

This includes walking home on my own from college at 10pm on dark winter nights countless times.
This was both before and after Hillside was developed from the halting site.
So the OP drove into the area once and got scared away, wtf?

Sure everyone in college told me I was crazy to do this and I'd be mugged some night but I never had any problems.
Only problems I ever had was people asking me to buy drink in Supervalue in Ballybane and kids messing in the Xtravision next door.

OP, I'd advise you to stay away as I admit it's a rundown, depressing area and Wellpark or maybe Renmore are nicer but going by these posters you'd get your throat slit once the suns goes down.:rolleyes:

milmo

I'm originally from Limerick. A few years ago I had to spend a few weeks working in Castlepark. A few of my colleagues were from Galway and were planking it the whole way through. Neither they, nor the Castlepark heads had any idea what tough was.

IMO the Galway skangers are in the ha'penny place when compared to the knackers at home. A few teenagers thinking they were auditioning for a gansta rap video was the worst of it. Loads of talk but no follow through!

Wouldn't rent there though. Much better options for not much more cash close by

Milmo

padi89

micmclo wrote:

Sigh, talk about overreactions here.
I lived in Ballybrit (similar rep to Castlepark)and walked and cycled everyday to and from GMIT through Castlepark as it was faster than going through Ballybane. This was 2002-2004.
In that time, I got ZERO hassle from anyone in Castlepark.

This includes walking home on my own from college at 10pm on dark winter nights countless times.
This was both before and after Hillside was developed from the halting site.
So the OP drove into the area once and got scared away, wtf?

Sure everyone in college told me I was crazy to do this and I'd be mugged some night but I never had any problems.
Only problems I ever had was people asking me to buy drink in Supervalue in Ballybane and kids messing in the Xtravision next door.

OP, I'd advise you to stay away as I admit it's a rundown, depressing area and Wellpark or maybe Renmore are nicer but going by these posters you'd get your throat slit once the suns goes down.:rolleyes:

While i agree with most of what you said i strongly disagee that Ballybrit and Castlepark have the same reputation.They may be right beside one another but never heard anything bad about Ballybrit compared with Castlepark.
I worked up around that area for over a year and never had any hassle.

nonamemark

It's true most of the knackers in Galway are all talk BUT there are ones that will act. In my first year of college in GMIT a car was burnt out right outside our house and a few months later another one was burnt out, not outside the house but close enough, and in the past month the neighbours 3-4 houses up from me was burgled.

It's rare that **** happens like this around Ballybane (I can't comment on Castlepark) but the places are full of knackers. I've walked home plenty of times from town while on the piss but I was wary all the way once I got to Ballybane.

And I don't see how Ballybrit has the same reputation as Castlepark/Ballybane.

gaeilgegrinds

I was simply referring to Castlepark, not Ballybane in general.

Frankieboy

I have been a resident in Castlepark all my life, that would be 21years +.

First off Castlepark is not like Ballybrit, it wouldn't be seen as being as rough.

The past 1-2years Castlepark has gotten pretty bad again, it wasn't to bad there for a while. The biggest problem with Castelpark is the teenagers, these would be ones from Castlepark and surrounding areas, they seem to congregate in Castlepark. They have absolutely no respect for anything or anyone.
While I have never had any real trouble myself I've seen one or two things happening and as much as you like to do something to stop it, you'll bring a whole load of s**it down on yourself. I think offenders are getting away far to lightly!
I would not recommend anyone to move/live in Castlepark, it's not the worst but not worth the hassle, and as soon as I finished college (in GMIT, really handy) I'm out of here.

mikemac

padi89 wrote:

While i agree with most of what you said i strongly disagee that Ballybrit and Castlepark have the same reputation.They may be right beside one another but never heard anything bad about Ballybrit compared with Castlepark.

Fair point, I shouldn't have posted that Ballybrit is the same as Castlepark.
Although you see a lot of kids messing in the industrial estates in Ballybrit, robbing pallets for bonfires mainly.
Ballybrit is an ok area, not great and not bad.

Didn't realise Castlepark has gotten worse in the last few years as it was 2004 when I was last there.

Creachadóir

I'm confused. I thought that Castlepark was in Ballybane. And I was under the impression that this area was the roughest area in Galway. Perhaps it wouldn't hold a torch to bad areas in Limerick, but it'd be a place you'd stay well clear of when you were in Galway.

I also thought that Ballybrit was fairly upmarket, and that it was mostly residential. Is this not the case? I'm thinking of moving there. However I'd never consider moving to Castlepark.

kippy

Castlepark,Ballybrit and Ballybane are all within short walking distance of each other, as is doughiska.
Castlepark has a bad rep(based on my experience). There are many nice people living there but the estate is old enough and there are a number of bad elements in it (which can be found in many parts of Galway).
As the houses are older and there appears to be a minor bad element, I would consider renting else where. There are newer estates around now which would be just as handy.
Ballybrit is a large residential area with a large number of factories and warehouses. I live here myself and havent had any problems. Yeah there appear to be dodgy characters around but you'll find these all over Galway.
You're never too far from your stereotypical dodgy character anywhere in Galway city in my opinion. However, in general, most of them wouldnt go near ya and its as safe as any area with a large congregation of people can be.
Kippy

WiredMan

I grew up in Castlepark myself and my parents still live there (moved to Athenry to get away from the place).

It's not the roughest place to live but it's bad all the same.

When I was growing up our house was never burgled and the front door was rarely locked, these days my parents car keeps getting broken into (they haven't gotten away with it yet) and the front door is never unlocked.

They have even broken into the car during the day with people in the house.


It's not just our house either, I'd say 1 in 3 houses has been burgaled, their shed broken into or at least had things robbed out of their front/back gardens (including from personal experience - garden benches, plants, ladders - anything really). You'll see lads come around every so often going up and down the alleyways, looking into people's back gardens.


It's mostly teenagers with no respect whatsoever. I know a lot of their parents and they are neglectful (or not around), alcoholics and/or worse.

Don't go blaming the travellers either, they're no better and no worse.