Limerick retro thread

LB6

anybody go to the roller disco in the bingo hall on Shannon Street? went once - skating backwards for some reason and someone stuck their foot out - went for a burton and split my pole - end of my skating career that was lol :P

dave 27

ok i think we need pics, anyone have any pics of spaids, before the new dunnes was built?

mgbgt1978

2FM Beat-on-the-street in Arthurs quay park (was a car park back then).

Close Encounters night club at the Parkway...you went into a special dinig area to have your meal (all the clubs had to provide a meal back then, it was a condition of the late licence). And there was a phone on every table that could be used to ring any other table...WOW.

The Pink Elephant (Savoy) with head doorman Gary Murphy tossing guys out through the window when the door was just too far to drag them:D

Big L, the pirate radio station with their name over the door and a reception where you could drop in requests (Ellen street).

Walking (well, staggering) home over Sarsfield bridge at 1am and seeing 40 or 50 guys sitting on the bridge parapet.....no they weren't part of some suicide cult, they were fishing at high tide (something tidal anyway)

Oh yeah, remember when O'connell st. traffic went from 2 way to 1 way
. Great craic flying up sarsfield st and taking a sharp right onto O'connell st with a passenger who expected cars to be coming down against us:)

mgbgt1978

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45755268@N00/sets/72157594516377747/show/

Some nice old photos here.

AnCapaillMor

john the man was a god on school mornings.

bullets

[Warning drunk post so just spewing rubbish]
Quinnnnsssssss Bring Back QUiiinnnns I've not been out proper since that place closed down. I used to go every evening as a teen and both day and night on a sat/sun I loved the place. Could not give a **** about Termites afterwards but really loved the Pub beforehand.

Forbidden plant. Confession I never bought anything much from the place but loved looking all the same.

The Pink Elephant may have been slightly before my time, I dont recall going there, I thought it was in the Theater Royal though and not the savoy but I could be totally wrong not having been to the place. I've heard about the place just dont recall any time going there.

Burgerland on William street. You were taken there in your Birthday if you were lucky they had green/yellow swivel chairs that almost swivelled 180 degrees but not quite!
upstairs later became a dedicated pre-book party zone.
The Toilets had a sign saying they were cleaned every 15 mins. They also were the only place in Limerick at the time to offer a Mint flavoured Milk shake. Punks and Winos used to hang outside the entrance in later days dragging down the place.

Feathery Burke's I was let in underage cos the bouncers were in the Army and over my unit in the FCA (thanks Lads) was in the middle of the Riots one night when things kicked off unfortunatly. There was also times during the summer it was fine when there was a BBQ in the back. It was the time for Alcho pops to be sold back then. One time I went behind a tree to take a piss and accidently bumped into barbed wire which neatly sliced my eye lid off and ended up in the hospital getting it stitched back in place.

Tropics where you had a gold card to get cheap drinks before midnight and free cloak room.

Saints night club circa 1993 was the place to be to be for
a brief time, was easier to get into than the Posh Docs! back then.

From about the age of 12-14 I remember
Visting my grandmother in garryown and staying over at the weekends as a kid I was treated to Packet and tripe for Lunch bought from down near st Marys Church, while listening to John the man on pirite radio, followed by griddle bread, home made blackcurrent jam, after Lunch a walk into town where there was a visit to the pound shop in william street, followed by either chips from the Golden Grill or a kiddies meal from the restraunt in Dunnes stores.
At night it was a trip to the "black battery" pub next to the greyhound track with the grandad where you had red lemondade a sip of his pint and a puff of his fag, followed by horrible salted peanuts.

Sat mornings on the Telly was Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Flipper, Lunch time Sundays was Lost in Space and Land of the Giants usually when your parents forced you to goto mass. Sometimes voyage to the bottom of the sea was on with the yellow flying submarine.

~B

Berty

I remembered Arthurs Quay park not existing. They actually reclaimed that land to build the park. It was a car park and the road was two way.

I remember when the Tax office on Charlottes quay was also a large car park and you could actually see the graveyard. Its hard to believe there is still a graveyard buried(excuse the pun) between all those buildings.

I remember when the Shannon was clean enough to swim in and the pink path was still pink. :rolleyes:

I remember when the only way to get from Corbally to Castletroy(to work) was down through Old Park Road, along the Canal and over the hump backed bridge because the Kings Island link road didnt exist, Nicholas Street was two way and the only way across the river was at Balls Bridge.

Remember when Docs was Docs and WE WERE THE CROWD. Now we are old and the new crowd dress weird and annoy us. :rolleyes:

I remember Friday Night 80's night in the George and the many other names it had during the late 90's and early 00's.

You could stand on Roches Street Lower(whatever its called) and tell Francis you were waiting 40 minutes for a Taxi and he would give you the next one even though you just arrived.

There used to be a tiny shop next to the rant and you could grab some fags for £4 or so and some crisps at 4 in the morning full of cheap booze.

I remember when the Henry Cecil fell down. That was hilarious. Apparently they were digging the foundations in the wrong place. My mother was evacuated from the shop just across the street.

I remember the bomb that was placed outside the Post office on Henry Street. Weird. There was a Garda/Army tape holding everybody back around 150 mtrs from the "bomb". SAFE!!!

I remember Cruises Hotel and even being in there. Looking back at the old pictures it was nearly black and white and the road was two way/

Actually I remember the bus's to "The Island" and Corbally used to stop outside Pennys and when they hissed everybody jump.

I remember when there was a shoe shop called Saxone where Keanes is now. There was also a shoe shop(shoezone) where Burger king is now.

Not so long ago there was "The Buzz" where the Vodafone shop is now. Oddly enough if you manage to get into the back stairs/emergency stairs of the building you will see the old Eircell Signs and some Buzz signs.

Awear used to be where the Old Dunnes on O'Connel Street was across from Brown Thomas with an upstairs.

I remember the O'Connel Court Mall with a restaurant and a Leonidas chocolate place and a shop inside the door on the left.

There was a place called "Shape" upstairs with the Jasmine. Curry and Diet all at the same time.

I even remember when you could let your children walk all those 5 mtrs to school without breaking out the SUV. :rolleyes:

I know somebody mentioned Spaights but I remember the Spaights multistorey car park out the back and a chipper called Sticky Fingers. There was a semi health food store at the corner where the (eats of Eden) traffic lights are now. I remember working in a kitchen and the chef sent me there for some fuppin sesame seeds.

I remember the look on my mothers in laws face when she spotted herself in the book "Down Memory Lane". WOW, you know your old when you are in a historical photo book. :eek:

I remember the bus when the seats were green and actually comfortable but then again people used to break them off so when you were sitting on the seat and the bus went around the corner you would slide off the seat away from the frame and crash to the ground.

Also eating O'Connel Grill chips on the bus was fun.

Drinking in Quinns till 4pm, getting a taxi home. Changing and getting the 6:40 bus from Shannon banks back into town to drink the night away.

I even remember some cars didnt even have a passenger side mirror.

I love this thread.

Berty

Remember Thomas Street car park?

It was a pig slaughter house.

Where Dominos is on the Dock Road was a coal yard.

Where Steamboat quay is now was a feed storage place and the perverts and hookers used to love it.(not the warehouse but riding around the area on the cobble streets)

bullets

Almost forgot.

Baths in the river shannon where people used to dive off of concrete pillars near the hump back bridge and
out towards corbally direction.

The esculators in Roches Stores were a highlight if visitng the store, getting to the 3rd floor was extra special where they stocked the electric mixers and lightbulbs, The Mammy rarely travelled to floor 3 and the fact you needed to take the stairs back down to ground level was cool, it freaked my out as a child that there was a sub level under ground level where you went to to the shopping. Dunnes later got esculators in, and later still when Aurthers Queue got the moving walkway in it was revoultionary.

Spaits shopping center/carpark and the NIHE (Now UL) where the only two places I ever remember from growing up that had an actual elevators/lifts. My mother was terrified of using elevators when I was a kid so I used to alway get a kick out of going into the lift with may father to travel to a roof of a building to goto the car. Back then it was special and not a common thing to have your car parked on the roof of a building!!! When on Lifts "G" and "1" was confusing as I always thought 1 would be the floor you were on. It really baked the bean when "B" was introduced into the list of choices of buttons to press as a child.

The Train station was another unusual experiance.
Trains were expensive to travel on (and still are)
so the amount of times a family member was going on a train was rare. So more often than not it was a family outing if you had to collect someone from the train station or when someone was going on the train.
I remember getting to actually hop on the train (before it went anyplace) as a treat. (the simple things pleased is when we were kids)


Bomb scare outside the Tait Center was memorable.
The Shoe store collapsing next to easons and the fire in the shopping
center on William street was another memory as was Boyds toy store
at christmas time where you got to go into the basement to look at cool toys.
Santa in Todds was popular (later Santa in the Parkway shopping center was popular)

Cruises Hotel was used as an emergancy stop point when you needed to use the loo
where you used the hotel toilets.


~B

Berty

You used to be able to park out the back of Roches Stores and there was a little room where your shopping was stored in MASSIVE brown bags.

There was also a side entrance into Pennys where the fire exit is now.

I remember the basement of Roches as a supermarket that was weird. I even remember how crap shopping was that my mother would buy stuff in Roches Stores, stuff in Crazy prices and then more stuff in Dunnes Parkway.

Also in the Parkway there was a HUGE shed where Burger King is now where you got your trolley from. You gave the guy 50p or something for your trolley. Long before the days of trolley coin thingys.

I remember when Childers road met the Dublin road with traffic lights on a T Junction and you could enter the Dunnes Car park where the green post box is now.

I remember my father was working in Wang and you were allowed in to the building to visit him. They were all happily sitting in their cubicile offices all smoking away like mad.

tony300+

who remembers genelles on o connell st where supermacs is now.
and the oyster bar downstairs under the shop.used to work in that bar.it was great craic. and o farrells bar and duntworths across the road in thomas st. great times:rolleyes:

Magnum

I remember Santa in Boyds, King Kanutes shop , Hogans pub in Fow's Bow, Flannereys Pub on William St, Noel Edwards Pub on the corner of Thomas Street.
The Galvone on a Sunday after Mass.

A fire in Mc Carthys(i think) Furniture Shop on William St.

All this when I was a whippersnapper running around Limerick

Magnum

Oh and The Galleon Grill (spelling), my mother and grandmother used work there and my Dad used work in Fulflex....

chucken1

Jebus Im having flashbacks now again! I remember my father getting a 'seat' into town once a month or so to go to the barber. He'd then buy a box of 'slussy' buns in the Dainty Dairy,before heading to The Hogan Stand for a few pints. The box of eclairs and cream cakes always got home in one piece!! God Im feeling very nostalgic here Great thread

tony300+

and club marche at the greenhills. what a mad spot that was:eek:

bullets

Magnum wrote: »

Hogans pub in Fow's Bow,

Was that the Biker Bar with straw on the ground near
Modesty clothing ?

I was never in the place but always wanted to see what the inside looked like.

~B

tony300+

bullets wrote: »

Was that the Biker Bar with straw on the ground near
Modesty clothing ?

I was never in the place but always wanted to see what the inside looked like.

~B

was that buddies down foxs bow.........
ma hogans was down there too.........
we be in there on a friday with all the school bags thrown#in the corner

Magnum

bullets wrote: »

Was that the Biker Bar with straw on the ground near
Modesty clothing ?

I was never in the place but always wanted to see what the inside looked like.

~B

Thats the place ( I think)but way before the bikers had it, an old couple had it, we used go in there back in the seventies with my Dad (we moved out of Limerick in 1980)

bazz26

I remember my first legal pint in the Desmond Arms up on Catherine Street where the High Stool was. Then on up stairs to Cheers niteclub. It later became two seperate niteclubs, the Temple of Sound for the youngsters and Tangos for those suffering from a mid life crisis. Entrance to both niteclubs were shared by a double door and toilets. I remember we would fall from the Temple of Sound into Tangos drunk, pointing and laughing at all those old ones dancing to the Bee Gees. Oh how the shoe is on the other foot these days.

LB6

Gawd - I used to hate walking up near the slaughter house in Thomas/Roches St. All the time hearing the pigs squeal.....and seeing the blood run out under the doors and off the footpaths onto the roads.

Need help with this one - what was the name of the pub that was there before it became The Texas Steakout? Miserable shower - still left up the padded timbers on the walls even after all these years.

As a child, going to Mass with dad on a Sunday morning and then going across town to go into the North Star for the weekly sip before Sunday dinner. In the door and got plonked in the alcove out of the way with my Coke:D

Being evicted out of Doc's in the 80's cause there was a bomb scare, oh and evicted from the Crescent too - another bomb scare - Absolutely nothing to do with me being in both places at the times :-)

bazz26

LB6 wrote: »

Gawd - I used to hate walking up near the slaughter house in Thomas/Roches St. All the time hearing the pigs squeal.....and seeing the blood run out under the doors and off the footpaths onto the roads.

Need help with this one - what was the name of the pub that was there before it became The Texas Steakout? Miserable shower - still left up the padded timbers on the walls even after all these years.

As a child, going to Mass with dad on a Sunday morning and then going across town to go into the North Star for the weekly sip before Sunday dinner. In the door and got plonked in the alcove out of the way with my Coke:D

Being evicted out of Doc's in the 80's cause there was a bomb scare.

Was it called the Bootleg bar?

L.T.P.

Think it was called The Bootlegger Bar!

Anyone remember a bomb scare at the Jetland in the early 80's?

LB6

The Bootlegger Bar is what the bar in the steakout is known as now. Really bugging me - must try google it!

munstergirl

Pub where texas steakhouse used to be the speakeasy

LB6

Ah -ha - google's great - it was called Gullivers when I was there - then it became the Speakeasy and then the restaurant!

acalmenvoy

LB6 wrote: »

OK going back further - anyone of you young whipper snappers remember Besco's - yes with a "B", was a grocery store where the Mall is at Guineys now.

Was it not called Five Star at some stage, first supermarket in Limerick?
Remember me Ma collecting green shield stamps from there, could be wrong, need someone mid forties upwards to back me up:D

Great thead by the way, I miss double decker buses with conductors.

Skateboarding down the Bloodmill Road, no housing estates there then.

Penny bars.

Ma Reillys.

The Basement.

Remember my first time at the cinema, The Carlton, double feature, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and SWALK.

Christ I could go un and on....:D

iguana

Berty wrote: »

I remember when the Tax office on Charlottes quay was also a large car park and you could actually see the graveyard. Its hard to believe there is still a graveyard buried(excuse the pun) between all those buildings.

I used to love that graveyard. My parents would go into town on a Saturday morning and park the car near the market and they'd go shopping while my brother and I would go to library. If they turfed us out of the library for 1pm closing before our parents came back we'd go to that graveyard and either play about or read our books.

Berty wrote: »

Awear used to be where the Old Dunnes on O'Connel Street was across from Brown Thomas with an upstairs.

Didn't that used to be Cassidy's before it was A-wear. I remember there were three mirrors upstairs that had lifesize cartoon-ish people laid over the glass. One was a guy flexing his biceps and the other two were girls one of whom was wearing "disco-boots." I used to always try to stand at a point in the shop where I could imitate the pose and disappear into the cartoon. I remember being caught by one of the guys working there once who laughed at me.

There was another Cassidys on William St, up near Newsoms. I remember waiting outside while my dad went in, we stayed outside because my youngest brother was just a baby and it was awkward to bring the pram in. He came out and my mum went in and when I looked up he was wearing a Vote Yes to divorce badge. I got hysterical because I thought it meant he was planning on leaving us if the referendum (1986) passed. (Actually I'm not sure if that shop would still have been Cassidys in '86?)

I remember the Maddens milk token shop in William's Court where you would exchange tokens for household goods or toys. I took a load of tokens from my parents car once to get my brother a Transformer toy for his birthday, I thought I'd pulled off a great deal by using rubbish to get my brother a present. My parents were not pleased as they had been saving them for something else.:o

My aunt took me to see the fallen down shoe store. There were huge crowds all standing there staring at a big pile of bricks, pointing out the occasional visible shoe. I guess that's what life was like when we only had two channels and no internet.

iguana

Berty wrote: »

There was also a side entrance into Pennys where the fire exit is now.

Ooh! And they had a big pick'n'mix there for a while. Once my uncle was going out with a girl who worked there and he brought me along to meet her after work. While we waited I stood at the side-door and opened it and closed it for all the customers when they were leaving. And the manager thought I was so cute he gave me a big bag of sweets from the pick'n'mix.:D

Best day ever!!!

Gneez

Really miss quinns, the high stool and termites and the cinema in the same building as termites, the old cinema across the road was cool too if a bit dingy.

Berty

iguana wrote: »

I remember the Maddens milk token shop in William's Court where you would exchange tokens for household goods or toys. I took a load of tokens from my parents car once to get my brother a Transformer toy for his birthday, I thought I'd pulled off a great deal by using rubbish to get my brother a present. My parents were not pleased as they had been saving them for something else.:o

My missus mentioned that last night but I forgot to mention it. There was a restaurant upstairs in there as well.

My mother used to take our tokens to the office in Dawn(???) on O'Callaghan Strand / Nr Circular Road and collect the crap. God, we drank a lot of milk back then.

I also remember in 1997 when I got a mobile phone / phone box and people laughed at me "what do you want one of those for?"

Somebody had to be first in the gang I guess.