Dunshaughlin=Recession free zone?

Dáibhí

PS: You know the scariest family in the history of Dunshaughlin as far as surviving old natives are concerned is the Cooke family. The "ghost of Rowley Cooke" is legend. An 83-year-old was telling me the other day that his father had to put the blindfolds over his horse's eyes every time he rode by Cooke's on the way back to the village from Drumree. Cooke's was the first old house on the right-hand side as you leave Dunshaughlin for Drumree (after the v where you go straight on for Killeen/Dunsany). It was owned by one Colonel Newell in the 1980s. It's surrounded by trees and is haunted as bedamned. Don't know who lives there nowadays.

bonerjams03

I wonder if thats what had influence over the naming of the estate Cooksland...

I know that Supple Park was named after the Supple family who owned a pretty big estate where the Golden Phoenix, Supple Park etc. is today.

Also, I worked in Super Valu, the till people have no influence over the pricing or mis-pricing of goods, it'd be more wirth while talking to a manager.

Dáibhí

IRcolm wrote: »

I wonder if thats what had influence over the naming of the estate Cooksland...

Well, Cooksland existed in the village before this particular family of Cookes. At any rate, Mickey Kenny would often tell the story of the developers contacting him about the politics of calling the estate Cooksland. [.... (ahem)]

IRcolm wrote: »

Also, I worked in Super Valu, the till people have no influence over the pricing or mis-pricing of goods, it'd be more wirth while talking to a manager.

I've taken to avoiding that place as much as possible. It does still bother me that the tradition of shopping local, a tradition which is very strong among local women including my mother, benefits the person who owns that shop. But the talks we have at home - I've a large family - about the prices that store attempts to charge us (and overcharge us) is an omen for its future. It will not survive.

PS: Aside from the always lovely Mrs Duffy, is there a single local woman (or man) employed by Super Valu?

daltonm

IRcolm wrote: »

I wonder if thats what had influence over the naming of the estate Cooksland...

I know that Supple Park was named after the Supple family who owned a pretty big estate where the Golden Phoenix, Supple Park etc. is today.

Also, I worked in Super Valu, the till people have no influence over the pricing or mis-pricing of goods, it'd be more wirth while talking to a manager.

I think the point is that one or two customers a day (maybe more) won't check, they are too busy or are distracted - and that's money in the till.
I hate shopping there but have to on occasion.

Great bit of history to the town thank you (newbie 2 years)....

EdgarAllenPoo

Dáibhí wrote: »

PS: Aside from the always lovely Mrs Duffy, is there a single local woman (or man) employed by Super Valu?

How would you define a "local"?

Dáibhí

GDM wrote: »

How would you define a "local"?

Well, I define Mrs Duffy as a local because she has been here for years, long before Super Valu opened. She's not a native, but she is most certainly a local. There is nobody else there that I know of outside of Super Valu, except, now that I think of it, the Red Morgan's wife.

Most people working there (including the owner) today are, by any objective standard, outsiders. Which gets back to my point about shopping local, when there are few or any locals working in the place. It is no longer a 'local' shop but rather a business owned by an outsider, employing a primarily outside workforce, and taking money out of the local economy. This would probably not matter too much - at least to me - were it not for the fact that it is abusing its dominant position in the locality through charging extortionate prices to the local community.

In terms of its contribution to this local community, Super Valu just doesn't have anything going for it as far as I'm concerned, and offensively high prices going against it.

Dáibhí

daltonm wrote: »

I think the point is that one or two customers a day (maybe more) won't check, they are too busy or are distracted - and that's money in the till.

That is precisely the point, thank you. I've lost count of the number of times I've been overcharged, noticed the overcharging on my receipt when I arrived home, and had to go back and point it out to them. In Dublin, in contrast, on the rare occasion that I am overcharged (at least officially), I am given the product for free under some 'No Quibble' promise. It's a different quality of service, all inspired by something Super Valu Dunshaughlin does not have: competition.

ibarelycare

Dáibhí wrote: »

Well, I define Mrs Duffy as a local because she has been here for years, long before Super Valu opened. She's not a native, but she is most certainly a local. There is nobody else there that I know of outside of Super Valu, except, now that I think of it, the Red Morgan's wife.

Most people working there (including the owner) today are, by any objective standard, outsiders. Which gets back to my point about shopping local, when there are few or any locals working in the place. It is no longer a 'local' shop but rather a business owned by an outsider, employing a primarily outside workforce, and taking money out of the local economy. This would probably not matter too much - at least to me - were it not for the fact that it is abusing its dominant position in the locality through charging extortionate prices to the local community.

In terms of its contribution to this local community, Super Valu just doesn't have anything going for it as far as I'm concerned, and offensively high prices going against it.

Outsiders?? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Please, you sound like such a snob. Just because YOU don't know all the staff in Supervalu, doesn't mean they're not "locals." A large proportion of the staff are teenagers. Now I don't know what age you are but do you know the background of every worker in Supervalu? I doubt it.

Get off your high horse ffs. Dunshaughlin has grown a huge amount in the last 10 years and it's full of people who have moved from outside the area but are now living here. Everyone family was an outside at some point, even your precious "natives" :rolleyes: That post makes you sound like a complete bigot and someone who's living in the past.

BTW, Supervalu has come down in many prices over the past couple of months. I shop both there and in Dunnes and there isn't a huge difference in prices. Your claims that prices are "extortionate" are a slight exaggeration. If you don't like it then take your money out of the "local economy" and stop complaining.

Dáibhí

ibarelycare wrote: »

Outsiders?? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Please, you sound like such a snob.

So, now it's offensive - even "bigotry" it appears - to call people outsiders? I've lived in Dublin and abroad, and I was an "outsider" in those places. That is a statement of fact. There are hundreds of thousands of outsiders in Dublin, most of whom proudly proclaim themselves "culchies". What is your problem with such statements of fact? If Super Valu wants to advertise itself as a business which benefits the locality (a tactic which somehow is intended to ameliorate the obscene prices) it is right to question just how many locals are actually benefitting from it. In this case, 'locals' are those who lived in the village before Super Valu came, and 'outsiders' are those who came to the place (or didn't, for that matter) solely because of being employed by Super Valu. The jobs weren't exactly given to locals in these cases.

ibarelycare wrote: »

Everyone family was an outside at some point, even your precious "natives" :rolleyes: That post makes you sound like a complete bigot and someone who's living in the past.

Indeed. The former is a truism. You seemed to have missed the part where I explicitly did not equate natives with locals. So much for the rant, eh.

ibarelycare wrote: »

BTW, Supervalu has come down in many prices over the past couple of months. I shop both there and in Dunnes and there isn't a huge difference in prices. Your claims that prices are "extortionate" are a slight exaggeration. If you don't like it then take your money out of the "local economy" and stop complaining.

If you actually think selling a 20 pack of Miller for €24.99 - as Super Valu's 'sale' price was last week - while the same product was available in Tesco for €17.99 does not qualify as extortionate, then the dictionary definition needs revisiting. This is the most recent in a long line of extortionate price charges. And believe me, I do shop elsewhere whenever I get the opportunity. It only takes my dropping in for a necessary last minute item to see how absurd its prices are. While they continue to charge these prices by virtue of their monopoly in the supermarket trade here, I have every intention of speaking about it. Sorry about that.

EdgarAllenPoo

Ok clarify something for me(boy has this thread gone OT since I started it), I've been living in the village for 5 years now and working locally for the last year, am I an "outsider" by your definition?

ibarelycare

Dáibhí wrote: »

So, now it's offensive - even "bigotry" it appears - to call people outsiders? I've lived in Dublin and abroad, and I was an "outsider" in those places. That is a statement of fact. There are hundreds of thousands of outsiders in Dublin, most of whom proudly proclaim themselves "culchies". What is your problem with such statements of fact? If Super Valu wants to advertise itself as a business which benefits the locality (a tactic which somehow is intended to ameliorate the obscene prices) it is right to question just how many locals are actually benefitting from it. In this case, 'locals' are those who lived in the village before Super Valu came, and 'outsiders' are those who came to the place (or didn't, for that matter) solely because of being employed by Super Valu. The jobs weren't exactly given to locals in these cases.

Yes, I think it IS offensive to call people outsiders! Who are YOU to say that just because someone hasn't lived in Dunshaughlin for a certain amount of time that they are an outsider? And your definition of an outsider is someone who came to the village just to work in Supervalu??!! WTF? Supervalu's been in Dunshaughlin for probably the best part of 20 years at this stage! If everyone had your attitude then no one would ever feel welcome anywhere. Thousands of people have moved to Dunshaughlin in recent years and I'm sure a lot of them consider it their home and are proud of where they live...are they outsiders?

You're speaking as if Supervalu specifically CHOOSE not to give their jobs to "locals" :rolleyes::rolleyes: And, as I said in my last post, how on earth do you know that most of the people working there aren't locals?? I doubt you do.

Dáibhí wrote: »

Indeed. The former is a truism. You seemed to have missed the part where I explicitly did not equate natives with locals. So much for the rant, eh.

What's your point here? I didn't suggest that you equated natives to locals.

Dáibhí wrote: »

If you actually think selling a 20 pack of Miller for €24.99 - as Super Valu's 'sale' price was last week - while the same product was available in Tesco for €17.99 does not qualify as extortionate, then the dictionary definition needs revisiting. This is the most recent in a long line of extortionate price charges. And believe me, I do shop elsewhere whenever I get the opportunity. It only takes my dropping in for a necessary last minute item to see how absurd its prices are. While they continue to charge these prices by virtue of their monopoly in the supermarket trade here, I have every intention of speaking about it. Sorry about that.

Ok, so you've used this example twice. I'm sure there are other similar specific examples that can be used, but this can be said for many supermarkets with many different products. But in the larger scheme of things, the average price of my shopping in Supervale doesn't differentiate hugely with the price of my shopping in Dunnes or other such supermarkets.

bonerjams03

I can name a good few staff who live in Dunshaughlin.

Not that it matters, in the slightest.

EdgarAllenPoo

Most of the staff live in the village or surrounding areas.

daltonm

ibarelycare wrote: »

Outsiders??

BTW, Supervalu has come down in many prices over the past couple of months. I shop both there and in Dunnes and there isn't a huge difference in prices. Your claims that prices are "extortionate" are a slight exaggeration. If you don't like it then take your money out of the "local economy" and stop complaining.

The fact that Supervalue has come down in prices over the last couple of months is testament to the fact that it needs competition. My take is that it should have been reasonably priced all along. This time last year I had to suppress a scream at the till on being charged 50 euro for half a basket of shopping. It is extortionate and people paid for convenience. Prices were extortionate at least I felt so and there are good eals to be had now so imagine how much better the deals would be if we had an Aldi or Lidl in the town. People do complain, if not vocally then they do it with their wallets and they do shop elsewhere - SV have discovered this and so reduced their prices.

EdgarAllenPoo

daltonm wrote: »

People do complain, if not vocally then they do it with their wallets and they do shop elsewhere - SV have discovered this and so reduced their prices.

Not by much they haven't some prices have gone down and others have gone up. Unless you eat like a student you can't by enough food to make a decent dinner for three people for less than €17.

CUCINA

Well, Supervalue is certainly exercising a few minds here, provoking strong opinions. But if I may come back to the pub scene...as I mentioned before, I am not impressed with Lawless'es. I must admit that I would have a biased view about the place, going back to when I first moved to Dunshaughlin, where the owner, wearing his "hardware shop" hat, gave me the runaround with a lawnmower I left with him for repair, which took weeks to get back!
Some time later, my wife and I went to Lawless'es for an early evening drink after a walk. He was now wearing his "barman" hat and as I stood at the bar ordering the drinks, well, maybe my imagination was working overtime, but he appeared to give me a very steely-eyed look, not at all coming across as your friendly barmen. Anyway, we went back a couple of times after that, but somehow, we could'nt take to it. We have since settled for Carberry's whenever we have a few drinks locally, which would usually be on a Saturday night, but not EVERY Saturday!
Apart from Carberry's, we sometimes might gravitate towards The Arch Bar which, as a previous poster pointed out, does have a real pub atmosphere.
Overall, though, thanks to the smoking ban (which in itself I think is a welcome development) and the recession, "going to the pub" isn't the experience it used to be, which is a pity. Live music is the way to go, I think, to encourage the punters so a regular trad session (even in Lawless'es!) would be great.
Hopefully, the recession won't force the closure of any of the pubs in Dunshaughlin, it's always good to have a choice of places to go to...

Graphik60

Folks
I only saw this thread today and was fascinated by the various opinions. First of all, my credentials.. I am 59 and have been living just outside Dunshaughlin (Lagore Road) for past 22 years. When we came here the population was around 1100. Best pub was Gogans, small, manky, card playing on a Wed and Fri/Sat, food if necessary as it had a grocery. Then running a close 2nd was Murrays. Brendan Murry was the only person who sold plate glass in the villiage as Maddens or Lawless' did not even tho they were hardware shops and Murrays was a pub !!. Brendan Murray was All Ireland Draughts champion for a number of years. Does anyone out there remember the arrival of Santy at Murrays before Christmas ??
The Arch would probably be next. Lawless' was always a bit more manky but devoid of athmosphere.

SuperValu is very slow to reduce prices.. but as of this weekend.. 30th Aug 09, it is not too bad although their off-license is way overpriced. I would use Tesco/Aldi/Lidl and maybe Dunnes in Ashbourne...

The one thing that always struck me about Dunshaughlin was that there are essentially 3-4 main familys in the town, Blakes, Murphys, Delaneys and a range of smaller family groupings. These are true locals in that they all have cousins born and bred in the area. Anyone who is 'in from out there' is technically a blow-in.. however, because I am there so long and know a lot of the genuine locals for years.. I regard myself as an indigenous blow-in !

It always amazes me how some of the smaller shops ever survived.. and as someone said, look at all the unoccupied retail units off the main street. The issue there is a microcosm of the national problem.. ie who granted planning for them in the first place.. (massive thread potential but watch the libel laws !!)

Am I happy in Dunshaughlin ? I would say yes and give the town a thumbs up. It has it's drawbacks... but it is a good halfway between the city and the country. The issue for me is... dont expect quaint old country villiage type environment. Take it for what it is.. a city suburb with a bit of character. It is not Tallaght, it is not Glasnevin, it is not Foxrock.. however, city facilities are readily available via the good bus service.. Navan is not far away.. you are in the country in no time at all.. so like I say.. it is not a bad halfway house...!!

daltonm

Stroke Politics wrote: »

Lots of empties still for sale in Dunshaughlin,

http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=345985&search=1

these were at €315K in 2006

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article1083145.ece

Wow were they really that price - seems so expensive.

Mind you the property prices of some of the houses are unreal - I do think that Dunshaughlin is in a state of denial, particularly around housing.

dsane1

More bad news it seems ,i hear the pet shop is closing /or is already closed ?

bonerjams03

dsane1 wrote: »

More bad news it seems ,i hear the pet shop is closing /or is already closed ?

What? I thought that place was doing good business....

endasmail

dsane1 wrote: »

More bad news it seems ,i hear the pet shop is closing /or is already closed ?

i was told it was closed and cleared out
he moving his operation to cavan
think the rent on that place is ridicolous

bonerjams03

He already runs a shop in Virginia... must be moving everything to there so...

Wiley1

I wouldn't set foot in the Síbín, it's full of knobs...staff AND clientele, and Peter's is always so dead it's embarrassing. It's a pity because they did a great job on the place, and the guy who owns it is a lovely guy, but they just have no atmosphere. I did go in there on a Saturday night a few months ago and there was a 2 man band playing down the back. There were 2 couples sitting up the front of the bar and that was it. Felt so bad for the band and the staff! It just has zero atmosphere though.


I hear what you're saying about Dunshughlin, I'm from Navan and have spent many's a night up there with mates or passing through coming home, I like Dunshaughlin, it will suffer from the M3 in one form or another but isn't the whole country taking a bit of a bruising right now, Some of the posts and strong opinions on fair trade and monopolies are grass roots opinions that need to be listened to and acted on, Keep it going lads...

I saw that 3 piece band in Peter's, great musicians but like ye say atmospherewas a big fat zero....

bonerjams03

Remax is gone. Just Bannon Auctioneers now, obviously couldn't/didn't wanna pay the fees for the name...

dsane1

I see there s a new owner in the pet shop ,a bit of good news ,best of luck to them !

EdgarAllenPoo

Another new shop opening near Fidelma's, anyone know when the Indian's opening?

bonerjams03

Dunno about the Indian. Its been painted though... So; soon possibly.

The Pet Shop is also being run by the same people who owned Mac's Croner Shop all that time ago and who also own the €2 Store. Just sayin.

CUCINA

IRcolm wrote: »

Dunno about the Indian. Its been painted though... So; soon possibly. /quote]

What? Indians putting on war-paint? An Arrows hardware shop on the other side of the road? Jeez, Dunshaughlin's becoming a dangerous place!
Heard there is a cowboy take-away a couple of doors up from the Indian...could be an alternative...for a few dollars more!
Think I'll hang around the Bank of Ireland and get the next stage-coach outta here!

ibarelycare

CUCINA wrote: »

IRcolm wrote: »

Dunno about the Indian. Its been painted though... So; soon possibly. /quote]

What? Indians putting on war-paint? An Arrows hardware shop on the other side of the road? Jeez, Dunshaughlin's becoming a dangerous place!
Heard there is a cowboy take-away a couple of doors up from the Indian...could be an alternative...for a few dollars more!
Think I'll hang around the Bank of Ireland and get the next stage-coach outta here!

:-|

rizzee

Hope that Indian opens soon

Dynasty (die-nasty) is just being renovated and done up isnt it?

As for SV, we all know the manager there is a wnaker ( O.T & imo sorry)