Gardiner street, questions from a newbie

Fofo

Hello,
Just have to ask since I bet there is loads of dubs reading this forum. Sorry about grammar errors and stuff, I'm just a stupid foreigner..

I and my husband recently moved to Lower Gardiner street and everytime I tell somebody where I live I get this same question: "Do you like it" with weird look.

I'm not Irish and I have lived in several big cities around the world (including some really rough places in Moscow and London). My husband is from Fall Road in Belfast. We moved to Republic like one year ago and first lived on suburbs in D15. When tax-driver drove us to Gardiner street from D15 he seemed to be in panic and kept going how bad area Gardiner street is and how we would be killed in like two days.

Everybody are telling me that we are living like at the gates of Hell and at any moment now some junkie is gonna blow up the whole building. I'm not all convinced that I'm gonna be killed. I mean okey I have heard some gun shots from Summerhill, but I've heard them in better areas as well. In one "good area" I was robbed with a gun, this didn't happen in Dublin tho. I've seen one big fight as well, but again happens everywhere.. And one junkie, but he went away when told to get lost. I was so sure that it's end of us so I almost feel disappointed that I'm still alive after three months.

So I'm wondering now is that I'm just not looking hard enough, haven't lived here long enough, have a good luck or is that really that some people from suburbs and the countryside are just thinking that every area with something else than elderly and nuns is dangerous? My husband's approach to whole thing is a bit more practical than mine: "no saracens and a brick house=safe", but really tell me is this really a bad area or just area with bad reputation from 1970s? By the looks I think whole Dublin looks like a dump, but don't get it wrong I really like Dublin (and Gardiner street).. But really what do you think about Gardiner street?

lo2009

Um, the whole of dublin does not look like a dump, obviously you haven't been to any of the nice areas of the city, and are judging it purely by the main city centre..

anyway, dublin is a small city compared to london or moscow(as you mentioned you've lived in these cities) and so the bad areas in dublin are more relative to its size, gardiner street is bad but its nothing in comparison say to a ghetto in moscow for instance, which is so much bigger with a larger population and therefore a higher chance of crime etc., therefore, dublin being smaller will have less chance of crime, and the areas that we call "dangerous" would not be the same as a dangerous area elsewhere..

John Mason

gardinder street is fine, never had any problems there

himself works on gardinder street and never had any problems

spartan1

if you lived in moscow and london then you have nothing to worry about there, no matter where you are, exercise caution, be streetwise and dont take sweeties from middle aged men in cars, you'll be fine. Most of the people who live in the pale are wimps anyway ( que a thrashin) , stay safe and be stern.

The Minstrel

Apparently it was a bad area in the 70s and then they demolished a huge section of the street (mostly delapidated georgian buildings) in the 1980s and shipped most of the poor people to Tallaght and other outer suburbs. Nowadays it's more or less a part of the city centre fabric of tourist hotels and apartment blocks etc. Your driver's opinion is probably just based on its former reputation.

Have a look at this:
http://www.dublin1850.com/old_and_new.html
shows one or two pictures of Gardiner St as it was in 1980, and as it was in 2008.

They levelled an entire block on the Lower Gardiner St and made it into a park (basketball, playground etc.) and school. They recently knocked a block of council flats on Upper Gardiner St as well, so the area is still improving.

stovelid

Personally, I would consider GS to be OK but close to rougher spots like Summerhill. Like anywhere in the city centre, you'll get undesirables hanging around.

You could discuss 'rough areas' until the cows come home but at the end of the day, it's about individual perception and how safe you feel. For example, where I was brought up (and where my parents still live) always crops up in the roughest area discussions, but while I don't want to live there, I (and my ma and da) would never feel in any danger there.

There is no practical use in trying to convince people who are afraid of a place like Gardiner Street that it's safe. The discussion will just fall between the stools of OMG IT'S ROUGH and I LIVED HERE FOR YEARS IT'S GRAND.

Chucky the tree

Rule number 1 of living in Dublin - dont listen to a taxi drivers opinion on anything. Ever.

cmore123

Not just taxi men, I think that while there are certainly scumbags and low life about various parts of Dublin, (a) there are also in other cities, and (b) we, as Dubliners, certainly like to complain, grudge and give out a lot!

Miss Fluff

Wouldn't be my cup of tea, simply because of all the smack-heads in the area and its environs. Worked in an office there about 8 years ago and had my bag stolen as did evey single person in the office.....little bastards always managed to make it in and out in a matter of seconds. It's not somewhere you need to be scared of being shot, more somewhere you run the risk of being mugged or assaulted. So while there are worse areas in the city, try and avoid walking there alone late at night and avoid being conspicuous on your iPhone and exercise caution at the cash-point, the usual common sense.