Rathfarnham

irish sea

Hi there,

A newby here, I hope you don’t mind me asking your opinions. After 14 years in London I’m finally returning to my home town, but the big question is where to live. I’m from Blanchardstown originally but my job is based in Sandyford so it makes sense to stick to the south side, however there are so many lovely places to choose from!

So far we’ve looked at a number of areas but are being pulled towards Rathfarnham as it has a few things going for it: Nice housing stock, lots of open spaces, near the M50 and Sandyford and it has an Educate Together school. Anyone have a view on Rathfarnham? Are there any good pubs/restaurants/Indian takeaways (too long in London!)? All positive and negative views warmly received.

Thanks
IS

seamus

Rathfarnham is quite a large area and it has it's upper-middle class expensive areas and it's dodgy working class areas, and they're quite intermixed. Any particular part of Rathfarnham you're looking at?

Overall it is a nice area, well settled and with OK public transport links to the city.

There are a multitude of good pubs, restaurants and Indians in Rathfarnham and the surrounding areas, I wouldn't worry about that.

irish sea

Thanks Seamus, we've seen a few places south west of nutgrove shopping centre. The estates seem nice enough, 'mature developments' in estate agent speak. We're not tied to a particular area, but it would make sense to aim for somewhere close(ish) to Loreto Ave as that's where the ET school is.

Good to know there are plenty of Indian takeaways, I think the husband would refuse to move to an area without one!

sebman

I live in Rathfarnham, steps from the Nutgrove Shopping Centre. Quite a nice area - Jackie Skally fitness across the road, Bright Horizons Creche and the Educate Together primary school. Takes half an hour to get to the City Centre on a bike . Have you made up your mind yet whether to move to Rathfarnham?

KC61

irish sea wrote: »

Hi there,

A newby here, I hope you don’t mind me asking your opinions. After 14 years in London I’m finally returning to my home town, but the big question is where to live. I’m from Blanchardstown originally but my job is based in Sandyford so it makes sense to stick to the south side, however there are so many lovely places to choose from!

So far we’ve looked at a number of areas but are being pulled towards Rathfarnham as it has a few things going for it: Nice housing stock, lots of open spaces, near the M50 and Sandyford and it has an Educate Together school. Anyone have a view on Rathfarnham? Are there any good pubs/restaurants/Indian takeaways (too long in London!)? All positive and negative views warmly received.

Thanks
IS

The area bounded by Ballyboden Road/Willbrook Road, Ballyroan Road, and Butterfield Avenue in Rathfarnham is a nice mature area with good schools, shops and a few restaurants thrown in, as are most of the areas along Grange Road up to Ballinteer, which itself is also a good area!

Tragedy

I'd stick to around the village/butterfield, nicest part of Rathfarnham I think and the quietest/most settled too.

seamus

Tragedy wrote: »

I'd stick to around the village/butterfield, nicest part of Rathfarnham I think and the quietest/most settled too.

In reality it's all very settled - Ballinteer and Churchtown sometimes have a bad reputation but in reality there are only one or two dodgy estates in these areas, everywhere else in Ballinteer and Churchtown is well settled and quiet.

Tragedy

I wouldn't say they're dodgy, but having watched knocklyon/ballyroan slowly degrade over the years - I wouldn't call it dodgy, but I wouldn't call large swathes of it particularly quiet or settled either.

A lot of the kids I grew up with turned into utter scumbags, and you only have to listen to the current teenagers accents to get an idea of whats happened.

Clapped up boyracer cars everywhere being a huge noise nuisance, drunken teenagers wandering around at night roaring at each other, gangs of 50-100 teenagers wandering around superquinn knocklyon or smaller ones by the supervalu.

None of it is particularly dodgy, but still. Butterfield and the village in Rathfarnham is where I want to be in the future

Luckycharm

Tragedy wrote: »

I wouldn't say they're dodgy, but having watched knocklyon/ballyroan slowly degrade over the years - I wouldn't call it dodgy, but I wouldn't call large swathes of it particularly quiet or settled either.

A lot of the kids I grew up with turned into utter scumbags, and you only have to listen to the current teenagers accents to get an idea of whats happened.

Clapped up boyracer cars everywhere being a huge noise nuisance, drunken teenagers wandering around at night roaring at each other, gangs of 50-100 teenagers wandering around superquinn knocklyon or smaller ones by the supervalu.

None of it is particularly dodgy, but still. Butterfield and the village in Rathfarnham is where I want to be in the future

I don't agree with this at all I grew up in rathfarnham around the butterfield area and now live not a million miles away from Superquinn. Sure you see a few kids from time to time but they are pretty harmless and disagree with the other comments. Supervalue I think can be far worse. Superquinn is in Knocklyon which is a much younger area and is a very nice area to live in.
Rathfarnham in general is a great family area to live in it is very settled, there are lots of parks, sports clubs, schools bus service is OK wish it had a luas!! It is also as the foot of the dublin mountains so you can get away from the city very quickly. If you were young free and single it would be the wildest place but a great family suburb and not too far from the city centre.
There are a couple of small pockets which would not be great but they would be pretty small.

Tragedy

Luckycharm wrote: »

I don't agree with this at all I grew up in rathfarnham around the butterfield area and now live not a million miles away from Superquinn. Sure you see a few kids from time to time but they are pretty harmless and disagree with the other comments.

A couple of wheelie bins set on fire, jumped up and ran over the roof/bonnet of every car that was parked on street, punctured tyres of about 12 cars on the road, smashed a bunch of wing mirrors. 5 out of 7 nights since Seconday Schools closed I've heard drunk teenagers shouting(not angrily, just loudly) at each other as they walk up the road(and it's not the same group day in day out). Nightly I'm woken up(light enough sleeper) by some stupid car with a straight through exhaust roaring around scholarstown road/taylors lane link road.
If you think there aren't masses of teenagers around superquinn most nights, I don't think you've been there very often

Supervalue I think can be far worse. Superquinn is in Knocklyon which is a much younger area and is a very nice area to live in.

Yes, much younger, but most kids are teenagers now and it's fairly cool to be a complete scanger in Knocklyon these days.


All that said, Knocklyon isn't a bad place to live at all.
Just, I'd choose a nicer part of Rathfarnham to live in if it was my choice.

Luckycharm

Tragedy wrote: »

A couple of wheelie bins set on fire, jumped up and ran over the roof/bonnet of every car that was parked on street, punctured tyres of about 12 cars on the road, smashed a bunch of wing mirrors. 5 out of 7 nights since Seconday Schools closed I've heard drunk teenagers shouting(not angrily, just loudly) at each other as they walk up the road(and it's not the same group day in day out). Nightly I'm woken up(light enough sleeper) by some stupid car with a straight through exhaust roaring around scholarstown road/taylors lane link road.
If you think there aren't masses of teenagers around superquinn most nights, I don't think you've been there very often


Yes, much younger, but most kids are teenagers now and it's fairly cool to be a complete scanger in Knocklyon these days.


All that said, Knocklyon isn't a bad place to live at all.
Just, I'd choose a nicer part of Rathfarnham to live in if it was my choice.

Where exactly are you talking about? They have a security gaurd up in Superquinn who tends to move them on. What time are you talking about - I would be up there the odd time at around 10pm see a few kids but nothing that would worry me.

Tragedy

Scholarstown Park, Dargle Wood and Woodfield.

Any time between 9pm and 3am most nights at superquinn, my sister lives over near Mortons so I drive by superquinn heading over and coming back - plus if I need late night cash it's off to superquinn

seamus

Can't really agree with your sentiments all that much Tragedy. Sure, there are usually small groups (no more than 10) of teenagers hanging around Superquinn until the shop closes, but it's been like that since the year dot. Many of these kids are friends of the staff in SQ and are just waiting for them to knock off work at 11pm.
I've certainly never seen them cause hassle and I've never felt intimidated by them. I'm usually there 2-3 times a week after 9pm.

Having grown up in Knocklyon, I can tell you that it's purely an illusion that there are more scumbags or drunken teenagers now than there have ever been, or that the area has "degraded" in any way. Like any area in Dublin, you will occasionally have scumbags living in the area causing hassle and you will occasionally have groups of drunken young people coming back from pubs or whatever. People always think that younger generations are wild and out of control, forgetting how wild and out of control they were when they were young.

The area is no less safe and quiet now than it was in the 80's, and I'm telling you that from experience. It was "cool" to act the hard man then too. In fact, the area is a good deal safer now than it was in the mid-90's; There used to be a couple of families of complete scumbags who were notorious around the area. Most of them have since moved away or been jailed.

Loud exhausts is a new phenomenon but it's not much worse in Knocklyon than anywhere else. You see them in Rathfarnham too as both Knocklyon and Rathfarnham provide access to the Dublin mountains where boy racers like to rally around.

Rathfarnham has its own problems with gangs coming from Finglas and Ballymun taking up residence in Bushy Park and causing no end of hassle for people in the Butterfield/Rathfarnham village area.

Tabnabs

Tragedy wrote: »

If you think there aren't masses of teenagers around superquinn most nights, I don't think you've been there very often

I've seen some of these groups and TBH they are well healed middle class kids with a large sprinkling of emos. They're just bored teenagers with nowhere else to hang out.

edellc

I grew up in an estate beside nutgrove it was horrible at the time but now is quite as can be all the scum bags either dead or in prison or too brain dead from drugs to be a nuisance now its full of young families and a decent area to live
if given the choice i would recommend living around nutgrove shopping centre and not rathfarnham as there is nothing in it really at least with nutgrove your on the main bus routes to dundrum and there are nice schools and plenty to do in nutgrove along with reasonably priced houses

Tragedy

seamus wrote: »

Can't really agree with your sentiments all that much Tragedy. Sure, there are usually small groups (no more than 10) of teenagers hanging around Superquinn until the shop closes

10? There's at least 10 every night, on a bad night you could be talking 30-40 and if you've never seen more than 10, I have to question if you really do pass superquinn all that often.

but it's been like that since the year dot. Many of these kids are friends of the staff in SQ and are just waiting for them to knock off work at 11pm.

Having 4 family members past and present working in SQ, I can tell you that that's not true.

I've certainly never seen them cause hassle and I've never felt intimidated by them.

I suppose you didn't see them running onto the knocklyon road outside SQ when the roads were icy and literally pushing smaller cars around on the road for fun? Or building walls of compacted ice in places that would do serious damage to a car? I've had scummers in boy racer cars throwing food out the window at me, seen them do it to others, and heard others say they've had it done too.

I have no bother going to the ATM when they're around, or walking past them at 1am at night on my own, but it doesnt stop it being something you don't particularly want around.
Antisocial doesn't mean dangerous, it just means antisocial.

I'm usually there 2-3 times a week after 9pm.

How often have you been there after the shops closed since schools finished?
Yup

Having grown up in Knocklyon, I can tell you that it's purely an illusion that there are more scumbags or drunken teenagers now than there have ever been, or that the area has "degraded" in any way.

Having grown up in Knocklyon and still living in Knocklyon a lot of the time, I can tell you that it isn't purely an illusion that theres more antisocial elements and that the area has degraded.

Like any area in Dublin, you will occasionally have scumbags living in the area causing hassle

All the scummers are local, alas.

and you will occasionally have groups of drunken young people coming back from pubs or whatever.

They're teenagers drinking around knocklyon in greens, superquinn or free gafs. I know a lot of the spots they drink in from walking around late at night and walking past them drinking. I see them almost every night, not occasionally - but then my estate is a cut through for people cycling/walking so I'd see far more than someone driving through knocklyon or living in a cul-de-sac

People always think that younger generations are wild and out of control, forgetting how wild and out of control they were when they were young.

Dude, I'm only 25 and out of Colaiste Eanna 7 years, and my friend from Ballyroan is only 21 and agrees with me completely.

I don't have a problem with them drinking on greens or whatever, god knows we all did it - but they're doing it every night and by god are they loud, obnoxious and vandals when they do it. Me, my brother and my dad have all had our cars in some way damaged in the last couple of years by drunk local teenagers at night just walking through the estate randomly vandalising cars.

The area is no less safe

It's perfectly safe, rape/muggings are virtually unheard of and the worst I've ever heard of in Knocklyon is a guy who exposed himself a couple of times :pac:

and quiet now than it was in the 80's, and I'm telling you that from experience.

That's utter bull**** and it's making me question your experience.
In the 80's, Knocklyon was half the size it is now, so how could it still be as quiet?
Also, there were far far less teenagers around then, it was almost all young families with young kids - so again, how could it still be as quiet?
The demographics have completely changed, and the rate of teenage drinking has increased massively(according to statistics anyway)

It was "cool" to act the hard man then too. In fact, the area is a good deal safer now than it was in the mid-90's; There used to be a couple of families of complete scumbags who were notorious around the area. Most of them have since moved away or been jailed.

Next door neighbour and mums best friend was a guard in Rathfarnham for 20 years, I know for a fact this is crap

One of the headhonchos in CAB living in Templeroan had a rude awakening a few years ago with a masked man standing over the bed telling him it was his car keys or a kettle of boiling water over his wife, that wouldn't have happened in the mid-90's.

Loud exhausts is a new phenomenon but it's not much worse in Knocklyon than anywhere else. You see them in Rathfarnham too as both Knocklyon and Rathfarnham provide access to the Dublin mountains where boy racers like to rally around.

They don't generally use Stocking Lane for access, they go up the Gunny Road from the top of tallaght/firhouse. Used to be a lot worse pre-m50 when boy racers would drive the R113 over to sandyford.

Tragedy

Dyflin wrote: »

I've seen some of these groups and TBH they are well healed middle class kids with a large sprinkling of emos. They're just bored teenagers with nowhere else to hang out.

Every teenager in knocklyon is a well healed middle class kid, they're still antisocial!

seamus

Tragedy wrote: »

10? There's at least 10 every night, on a bad night you could be talking 30-40 and if you've never seen more than 10, I have to question if you really do pass superquinn all that often.

30-40? Rarely. Maybe in a few separate groups, but rarely in one big group. The only time I've seen enormous groups is when the students are over from europe and they all congregate up there.

Having 4 family members past and present working in SQ, I can tell you that that's not true.

Having worked there myself and watching the current groups interacting, I can tell you that it is true.

I suppose you didn't see them running onto the knocklyon road outside SQ when the roads were icy and literally pushing smaller cars around on the road for fun? Or building walls of compacted ice in places that would do serious damage to a car?

Also happened in Terenure village at the time.

Antisocial doesn't mean dangerous, it just means antisocial.

Exactly. It means acting in a way that's discouraging societal order or otherwise intimidating society from acting in a normal way. These kids aren't intimidating and they don't cause much hassle (any more than kids normally do). Kids standing around chatting to eachother is a perfectly social, normal thing.

How often have you been there after the shops closed since schools finished?

I've passed by it a number of times. The groups tend to disperse once the shops have closed, with the exception of a small handful.

That's utter bull**** and it's making me question your experience.
In the 80's, Knocklyon was half the size it is now, so how could it still be as quiet?
Also, there were far far less teenagers around then, it was almost all young families with young kids - so again, how could it still be as quiet?
The demographics have completely changed, and the rate of teenage drinking has increased massively(according to statistics anyway)

Yes, demographics have changed, but there have always been teenagers.
From walking around the area, it actually seems *quieter* now than it used to be, primarily because the majority of teenagers are heading off elsewhere in the evenings and not hanging around the estates.

Next door neighbour and mums best friend was a guard in Rathfarnham for 20 years, I know for a fact this is crap

Nope. I'm talking about your standard scum who go around robbing cars, mugging people and otherwise causing hassle. They've mostly cleared out, though of course there are some. Your head honchos are of course around the area, but they don't **** on their own doorstep and they don't attract hassle to the area.

One of the headhonchos in CAB living in Templeroan had a rude awakening a few years ago with a masked man standing over the bed telling him it was his car keys or a kettle of boiling water over his wife, that wouldn't have happened in the mid-90's.

Ha! Really? So criminals never broke into Gardai's homes and threatened them in the 90's?

They don't generally use Stocking Lane for access, they go up the Gunny Road from the top of tallaght/firhouse. Used to be a lot worse pre-m50 when boy racers would drive the R113 over to sandyford.

Ballycullen Rd, Stocking Lane and the Whitechurch road, generally.

To get back to the original point of your whole thing - your assertion that the Butterfield Avenue/Rathfarnham Village area is in any way tangibly "better" than the rest of Rathfarnham is completely wrong. Fights and assaults are quite common in Rathfarnham Village at the weekends and there are a comparable amount of "undesirables" living in and around the Butterfield Ave/Marian area.

Overall, Dublin 16 is quiet, settled and safe and most areas & estates would be equally suitable for settling in.

ICE HOUSE

seamus wrote: »

In reality it's all very settled - Ballinteer and Churchtown sometimes have a bad reputation but in reality there are only one or two dodgy estates in these areas, everywhere else in Ballinteer and Churchtown is well settled and quiet.

ROTFL :D
Yea fierce bad reputation (Hells kitchen stuff)
Listen Im born and bred here in Dundrum/ Churchtown. The place is one of the safest places to live in dublin and in the world for that matter. The list of positives and things to see and do is endless. For example im just back from a run in the mountains just 5mins up the road in the car.Theres no shortage of Shopping centers, schools, Sports clubs, Gyms and the M50 beside you the list is endless. Ive lived around the world for nearly 10 years and all over Dublin and This area is defo the place to be living.

Luckycharm

Tragedy the way you are portraying Knocklyon you would think it was some sort of Ghetto. I am 10 years older then you and knocklyon is no worse then it was 15 years ago and agree with Seamus when I was growing up you used to get alot more problems in Rathfarnham Village then you would ever seen in Knocklyon especially when club Sarah was around. You used to see plenty of fights in the Village.
Kids are kids and are no different from when we grew up and I have never felt any way intimidated anywhere in Knocklyon. I can't say the same around Supervalue in Firhouse though.

Clanket

Have to agree. Tragedy your painting Knocklyon out to be a kip when in fact it's not at all. I've lived there nearly 20 years and it's a lovely area. Granted you do get teenagers hanging around the shops but as was posted earlier, the majority of these are bored teenagers not anti-social hooligans. And how do I know? Because my nephew is one of them. They have very little to do around the area and shops are a natural attraction for groups of kids, as has always been the case. They are not out to cause any trouble at all.

Your statement "having watched knocklyon/ballyroan slowly degrade over the years" is way off the mark. When I first moved to Knocklyon there was a gang of proper misfits hanging around the shopping centre and surrounding areas every night. The current crop of kids are far better behaved.

Granted it has it's problems like every other area but to say it's degraded over the years is just untrue. It's always was and hopefully always will be a lovely area to live.

And as for Ballyroan degrading? WTF? Where would this be then?

thegen

Back to what the OP asked, yes Rathfarnham and its surrounding area's are a pleasure to live in. I have lived in Rathfarnham/Ballyboden from birth (45yrs) and it is very similar to when I was growing up.
You will always have a few hard men or wanna be hard me who eventually grow up and for the most becomes decent individuals.

Now living in Butterfield and I have to say there is nowhere nicer to live. So OP my advice is contact one of the local Estate Agents in the Village Tom Scollan or Cathal McCarthy and they will assist you in finding your new home.

BTW, Welcome home.

The Gen