Just got back from Belfast

gigino

Witchie wrote: »

Even back in the days of "the troubles" I felt safer in Belfast city centre than in Dublin. I lived on parnell st in dublin in the 90's and was always on edge going home at nite and unless with a group of people don't like dublin city centre at nite now.

That said i do love the vibe in both cities and think dublin wins on architecture alright but Belfast is much cleaner and friendlier.

I also thank my parents for giving myself and my siblings neutral names coz would hate to stick out too much in any group.

Belfast would have been a much better city but for the troubles / bombings etc. Its coming back now. Arguably its much better run than Dublin. Hard to beat the buzz in Dublin though on social occassions - while forgetting about the filth, bad planning,etc

superelliptic

cancercowboy wrote: »

Go yourself to Belfast city centre and tell me you aren't impressed. Tell me Dublin City center is cleaner. Tell me is better planned. Please prove me wrong.

Dublin is designed for Horse and cart, because its a medival city. Although poky in places, it adds to its charm - which tourists like! Dublin and Corks buildings and streets need a good powerwashing/sandblasting, but theres nothing cosmetic in either city that cant be solved by a bit of spring cleaning, and improved public transport.

I tihnk things have come on a lot though. Remember when you couldnt walk down the street without seeing plastic bags stuck to everthing, and tangled up in trees? Not any more, and those "litter is Disgusting" ad's seem to have made a dent across the country - most citys are way cleaner than they were 10 or 12 years ago.

Your hearts in the right place though, OP. You've seen that we could do things better here, and you're p*ssed off that we are'nt. I agree with your sentiment!

mgmt

Agree with the op. Belfast has much less heroin zombies about the city. People are nicer and the city seems to be more relaxed. On the other hand, Belfast architecture is drab and dreary. And the pubs and niteclubs close way too early.

investment

By chance are you related to the famous D.R Cowboy??:rolleyes: CancerCowboy

For those of you who don't know D.R Cowboy a quick search will enlighten you;)

fonecrusher1

mgmt wrote: »

Belfast has much less heroin zombies about the city.

I read a statistic that there is over 300,000 heroin zombies in dublin city. Is this true?

steddyeddy

Dublin is a far more "romantic" city than belfast and has far more charm about it imo.

Blisterman

All these "Dublin is a kip" threads forget that unlike most cities, a large proportion of the social housing is located in the city centre of Dublin. Whereas in other places, you can visit for a weekend, stay in a gentrified city centre hotel, marvel at how nice everywhere is, never seeing the less savoury sides of the city.

Taking the city as a whole, I don't think there's any more scumbags than most other cities of its size.

grissom1

I was up the North quite a few times in 2009 and went all over the place Belfast is a nice city and the people in shops did seem friendly and polite, I think during the times of the troubles it might not have been the same.

Some of the parts in East and West belfast working class areas are still a bit run down but developing and it still has problems like the rest of the country.

I think some parts of Ireland here in the south have been held back because of all the corruption with developers and banks and rogue politicians which stopped investment in deprived areas, hopefully some of that will change with a fresh start.

I have to agree with the OP some of the people working in shops down here don't even speak or look at you when serving you.

I think a lot of it has been down to the cost of living here which had been getting out of hand for years. Anytime people saw improvement in their wages house prices were skyrocketing absorbing it all making them feel depressed.

Now that the ***t has hit the fan and there is a recession + bailouts .etc Anyone that took out a mortgage is sitting on negative equity, possible job loss or both, not a lot to smile about I suppose.


We live in a beautiful country and I hope over the next coming years to see it improve when we get back our sovereignty

i myself am from donegal and i too think that there is a big difference in belfast and dublin,i was in belfast recently for an interview and thought the city centre was lovely,there was no litter,no junkies,and the architecture was beautiful.Dublin on the other hand,i cant walk down o connel street without feeling intimidated by drunks.or youths.

Berns

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

the bot is a great pub

...... Went there before. Fight broke out beside me, some other random guy throws his drink over me, next thing ya know bouncers got a limb each and chuck me out the door smackin my head off a taxi...... oh and the cameras didnt see a thing. :rolleyes:

bohsboy

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

But sure thats 3 quarters of the dublin population.

Another one of your anti-Dub posts. You're racking them up now. Typical corkie. Jog on.

BraziliaNZ

Blisterman wrote: »

All these "Dublin is a kip" threads forget that unlike most cities, a large proportion of the social housing is located in the city centre of Dublin. Whereas in other places, you can visit for a weekend, stay in a gentrified city centre hotel, marvel at how nice everywhere is, never seeing the less savoury sides of the city.

Taking the city as a whole, I don't think there's any more scumbags than most other cities of its size.

Well, why do we have to have all the scum in the city centre? It ruins it for the rest of us.

Glenbhoy

I've spent 6 years in belfast and 10 in Dublin.

I much prefer Dublin, the nice part of Belfast is tiny, as someone else stated, you wouldn't have to venture too far from the city centre to find yourself in bother.
Litter is pretty bad in Dublin though (it was one of the first things I noticed after moving here) and I don't recall it being that bad in Belfast.
There is much more to do in Dublin (because it is 3 or 4 times the size).
Imo there's a much better atmosphere in Dublin, in the north, no matter how much you think things have moved on, people are still trying to suss you out. Of course with a free state accent, they'll make a fairly decent guess anyway.

Two other points, Cloneslad tried comparing the 1972 bombing and the luftwaffe getting lost one night as being comparable to Belfast's history???

The other someone thought that the north's economy didn't have a boom and bust and that the economy is well run. If that's the case, maybe we shouldn't be scared of SF getting into govt. Truth is of course, they've little power over what happens, but in any case the north's boom and bust was worse, it was shorter and equally as stratospheric, the north doesn't really have an economy as such, it's run on hand outs from the UK and contributes very little to the UK exchequer in return.

K-9

Glenbhoy wrote: »

There is much more to do in Dublin (because it is 3 or 4 times the size).
Imo there's a much better atmosphere in Dublin, in the north, no matter how much you think things have moved on, people are still trying to suss you out. Of course with a free state accent, they'll make a fairly decent guess anyway.

That would be the big difference to me, while Dublin has a bit of that with the D4 etc. accent it can be quite sinister and unnerving in Belfast.

neilthefunkeone

I was in Belfast last weekend...

Saw Roma begging and selling flowers outside pubs.. Bouncers on all the pubs were d1ckheads...(sunny afternoon and not allowed into pubs with shorts or jerseys)..


Just saying!!!

Glenbhoy

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

I was in Belfast last weekend...

Saw Roma begging and selling flowers outside pubs.. Bouncers on all the pubs were d1ckheads...(sunny afternoon and not allowed into pubs with shorts or jerseys)..


Just saying!!!

Bouncers will be bouncers, but the jersey thing is understandable. In the north jersey's can be a badge, be it gaa jerseys or those of certain scottish clubs. It's safer to have a blanket ban.

Another thing mentioned earlier is the difficulty of getting a drink after 1.30, I think there are a few places nowadays, but Dublin doesn't really close for another hour.

It depends on what you're into I suppose, but there are very few pubs in Belfast that are what I would term 'decent boozers', Dublin is full of them.

RainbowRose81

Another thing I have noticed about Dublin is that a lot of people who live in south Dublin are arrogant, jumped up and treat everyone differently and people who are from north Dublin many of them are rough, tough nuts but at least they treat everyone the same apart from the racist ones. It's hard to find an inbetweener someone who is not south dublin and someone who is not north dublin.

Kevin Duffy

RainbowRose81 wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed about Dublin is that a lot of people who live in south Dublin are arrogant, jumped up and treat everyone differently and people who are from north Dublin many of them are rough, tough nuts but at least they treat everyone the same apart from the racist ones. It's hard to find an inbetweener someone who is not south dublin and someone who is not north dublin.

Lol :rolleyes:

kfallon

cancercowboy wrote: »

After seeing Belfast I have never been more ashamed of being from Éire.

You must be a Brit? Cos nobody from Ireland calls it 'Eire'

Sunnyisland

RainbowRose81 wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed about Dublin is that a lot of people who live in south Dublin are arrogant, jumped up and treat everyone differently and people who are from north Dublin many of them are rough, tough nuts but at least they treat everyone the same apart from the racist ones. It's hard to find an inbetweener someone who is not south dublin and someone who is not north dublin.

I am Dublin west

kfallon

realies wrote: »

I am Dublin westbrit

FYP :pac:

dizzywizlw

RainbowRose81 wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed about Dublin is that a lot of people who live in south Dublin are arrogant, jumped up and treat everyone differently and people who are from north Dublin many of them are rough, tough nuts but at least they treat everyone the same apart from the racist ones. It's hard to find an inbetweener someone who is not south dublin and someone who is not north dublin.

Another thing I have noticed about people who know nothing whatsoever about Dublin is that a lot of these people are ignorant and garner their experiences from visiting the city centre primarily rather than those living on the outskirts or in county Dublin. A sizeable majority are 'middle-income' people who are neither stuck-up or inherently abrasive.


You'd swear that only people from dun laoghaire and darndale inhabit the capital city.

Fight_Night

RainbowRose81 wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed about Dublin is that a lot of people who live in south Dublin are arrogant, jumped up and treat everyone differently and people who are from north Dublin many of them are rough, tough nuts but at least they treat everyone the same apart from the racist ones. It's hard to find an inbetweener someone who is not south dublin and someone who is not north dublin.

Never heard that one before

Sofiztikated

dizzywizlw wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed about people who know nothing whatsoever about Dublin is that a lot of these people are ignorant and garner their experiences from visiting the city centre primarily rather than those living on the outskirts or in county Dublin. A sizeable majority are 'middle-income' people who are neither stuck-up or inherently abrasive.


You'd swear that only people from dun laoghaire and darndale inhabit the capital city.

I find the "middle income" people to be the worst. Give me the knackers, or the stupidly rich.

I've lived in Dublin for 5 years, and visited Belfast once.

Dublin is dirty. Inherintly dirty. It's ground in. Belfast IS cleaner. But there is more charm in Dublin. I'd still rather have Edinburgh over both of them though.

As said, the city centre part of Belfast is nice, but very small. The city centre of Dublin? Very spread out. The ****ty bits are quite close to the centre, and makes the place look very run down. Take a look at Capel St. Inbetween the nice shops, there are (or were it's been a few months) crappy run down looking shops.

steddyeddy

dizzywizlw wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed about people who know nothing whatsoever about Dublin is that a lot of these people are ignorant and garner their experiences from visiting the city centre primarily rather than those living on the outskirts or in county Dublin. A sizeable majority are 'middle-income' people who are neither stuck-up or inherently abrasive.


You'd swear that only people from dun laoghaire and darndale inhabit the capital city.

And whats wrong with my hometown eh

orourkeda

RainbowRose81 wrote: »

Another thing I have noticed about Dublin is that a lot of people who live in south Dublin are arrogant, jumped up and treat everyone differently and people who are from north Dublin many of them are rough, tough nuts but at least they treat everyone the same apart from the racist ones. It's hard to find an inbetweener someone who is not south dublin and someone who is not north dublin.

westies it is.

orourkeda

Sofiztikated wrote: »

I find the "middle income" people to be the worst. Give me the knackers, or the stupidly rich.

I've lived in Dublin for 5 years, and visited Belfast once.

Dublin is dirty. Inherintly dirty. It's ground in. Belfast IS cleaner. But there is more charm in Dublin. I'd still rather have Edinburgh over both of them though.

As said, the city centre part of Belfast is nice, but very small. The city centre of Dublin? Very spread out. The ****ty bits are quite close to the centre, and makes the place look very run down. Take a look at Capel St. Inbetween the nice shops, there are (or were it's been a few months) crappy run down looking shops.

Edinburgh is a dirtier city than Dublin. It's not called Auld Reekie for nothing

Sunnyisland

kfallon wrote: »

FYP :pac:

:mad: NO NO NO :mad::P

Lapin

feelingstressed wrote: »

For all the bitching about Dublin taxi drivers we do on boards, the boyos in Belfast are worse

I've never been overcharged in Dublin or Galway but the black cabs in Belfast robbed me blind.

I've always has the opposite experience with taxis in Belfast.

I've even been undercharged by cabbies up there.

Sofiztikated

orourkeda wrote: »

Edinburgh is a dirtier city than Dublin. It's not called Auld Reekie for nothing

Never said it was cleaner. Just think it's a nicer city. But again, I've never lived there, so probably does have its bad bits as well.

the big sleezy

starviewadams wrote: »

More Evening Herald bullshít hysteria,I have my lunch on the boardwalk every day if it isn't raining and I've never once seen this 'junkie' haven!

Dublin has the same problems as any other major city,Belfast is way smaller then Dublin so the problems there are less apparent,but they are there.

FFS OP every city has issues with drunks and drug addicts - and OP Belfast does have them , less of them but that might have to do with a smaller population ? , as for friendlier - again all city's have nice and not so nice people in it
you got lucky on a good belfast day - i have been in belfast on a bad day and had a terrible time but it did not color my view of Belfast or NI

Belfast has **** holes just like Dublin , you just did not see them or did not WANT to see them


Dublin cork galway Belfast are grand , all with issues but all still grand

nice strop OP - really done ya proud :eek:

pow wow

Belfast > Dublin > Cork. Shame the salaries are so bad in Belfast.

this is arse

Chris P. Bacon wrote:

Well why dont you move to Belfast if you love it so much.

UglyBolloxFace wrote:

Move to Belfast so.

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

http://members.home.nl/j.duerings/Frontpage11/idioms/images/great_minds.jpg
:pac:

and fools seldom differ

Delancey

Belfast has it's pluses over Dublin alright , that said Dublin has the ' buzz ' that non-capital cities don't - Belfast on a Sunday afternoon is like a morgue.

this is arse

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Dublin would be grand if we got rid of the junkies

Dublin would be grand if we got rid of all the Dubliners :pac:

KeithAFC

Delancey wrote: »

Belfast has it's pluses over Dublin alright , that said Dublin has the ' buzz ' that non-capital cities don't - Belfast on a Sunday afternoon is like a morgue.

Everyones in watching Celtic or Rangers :pac:

lil-ms-vodka

Been to Belfast many times, agree its a nice city, but it does have the same issues as Dublin. There are many stores closed up, litter on the street and same drunken behaviour as here. Once you get used to being there you will notice all this

whadyasay

Belfast is great, but Dublin is Dublin. And am from the North.

mgmt

KeithAFC wrote: »

Everyones in watching Celtic or Rangers :pac:

The one thing that bugged me about Belfast was that a large portion of people walk around in jerseys especially around the university, just trying to make a point it seems. Either GAA or soccer jerseys, mainly GAA around Queen's. I've never seen the same amount in other cities.

Magill

Belfast is definitely on the up, the city center/habor area is full of life, very clean, friendly and has a buzzing nightlife, south belfast is a very nice place to live. The rest is sort of patchy, some parts are nice while some are still soaked in the past.

Dublins great aswel, its massive compared to Belfast.. city center is very dirty tho and the inner city housing boosts the number of scumbags running about. There is a lot more to do in Dublin and the outskirts are generally much nicer than in Belfast.

One thing Belfast has going for it is the cost of living... honest to ****... you dubs get ripped off something serious. Probably why theres so many you lot up here in Newry taking all our beer !!!!

Fukuyama

The reason you'll find that cities such as Belfast and London are better planned out is because at various points in history they were raised to the ground by explosives raining down from the sky. This created a 'blank canvas'.

Dublin never had such a luxury.

mgmt

Dean0088 wrote: »

The reason you'll find that cities such as Belfast and London are better planned out is because at various points in history they were raised to the ground by explosives raining down from the sky. This created a 'blank canvas'.

Dublin never had such a luxury.

No, we just had city planners and councilors who were taking back-handers from property developers.

yoshytoshy

Belfast is full of poxy cameras ,thats one thing I hate about the place.

onlyrocknroll

cancercowboy wrote: »

So I was in Belfast for the last couple of days, I've never been to Northern Ireland before. After I saw how things are there I was filled with a huge sense of shame and regret.

Belfast is a beautiful city. It's clean, no litter to be seen. There a no scumbags or romas begging you fro change. No charity muggers harassing you. No roaming gangs of delinquent youths bothering you. Very little graffiti.

The city centre's architecture is gorgeous, and I didn't notice one store front empty. The arts and culture are heavily emphasized in the city centre and trendy restaurants share space with major retailers. The city centre is laid out beautifully and walking the streets unmolested was a real joy. Northern Irish people were working in shops and they were very friendly. I did not meet one rude person. Belfast is booming despite having a higher corporation tax rate than us. Why?

This, of course, contrasts significantly with my experience living in Dublin.

In Belfast Central train station there are couches and comfortable seating. The shop and the bar are open late, at least they were open until I left at 20:10.

When I got back to Connolly Station all the shops were closed, the only seating was blocked off and it was ridged steal seating. The place was filthy and of course the shop was closed, and you had no access to the ATMs. When I go downstairs the Luas is machines are vending tickets, and the sign says it will be there in 2 minutes, only to see it bypass the Connolly Station stop entirely. No sign informing me to get the Luas at the Busarus stop. I guess I am expected to be psychic. On my way home on the luas I see a horribly planned city, filthy, the streets lined with drunks and litter. When I get out of the Luas I see vomit and the same litter that was there when I left two days ago.

Dublin is in a right state. The shops that aren't boarded up, ost of them have crappy signs that look like they were printed then glued up. There is graffit everywhere and when i ask for directions people sneer at my Cork accent like they are so much better for being born Dubliners, like it's some great honor to be from this ****e hole.

We, as a people need to get some pride. We need to start cleaning up our communities. We need to stop expecting some one else to do it and just get on with with. We need to start putting some value on ourselves and our environment. It is in a state. Were wrong minded and stubborn about it. Maybe if we had a clean, organized, well panned city it wouldn't be such a struggle to get businesses to invest in Ireland.

Even during the boom Dublin and Cork City were tips, we were wildly rich but still living in filth.

After seeing Belfast I have never been more ashamed of being from Éire.

I don't like the tone of this point (calling Dublin a ****hole) but I really agree with the sentiment. We do really need a kick up the hole in this country. The litter, the bad planning, the rudeness. The more time I spend anywhere else, the more I dislike the republic.

Belfast is a wonderful city. The people are simply unusually nice and it's spotlessly clean. But most importantly it's got a sense of genuine culture about it without any snootiness.

For example 'trendy' is the only word in this post about Belfast I disagree with. I found that the restaurants were reasonable and unpretentious and the food was excellent. We could use a little less focus on trendiness in our restaurants and more on quality.

Run_to_da_hills

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Belfast is full of poxy cameras ,thats one thing I hate about the place.

Dublin is just as bad just that they don't stick out in your face as much.

Senna

Lived in Belfast for a year while at college, hated the place, never felt comfortable (this was only 8 years ago). Its got a few good points but as much as i dislike Dublin, if forced to choose somewhere to live, i'd pick Dublin. Thank god i dont live in either.

GTE

OP, I hope you are not are not judging the whole place on the train station and city center, because that is dumb.

I live there now and although I do think it has beautiful places with many friendly people, if you venture off the general tourist, which is what you were, routes then you will find its has its problems.

You are not back from Belfast, you are back from the city center from the sounds of it.

Although I think your post is not taking all of Belfast into account I agree that Dublin is more of a mess compared to parts of Belfast. Ie. most parts of Dublin are messier then the good parts of Belfast city. I do agree you have friendlier people in Belfast compared to Dublin on the face of it but that is it.
Comparing Dublin to Belfast is no big point worth making. You can compare all the major cities in the world with each other and come up with the same conclusions. The fact Belfast is up the road means nothing for me.

Penfailed

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Belfast is full of poxy cameras ,thats one thing I hate about the place.

Why?

nedzer2011

Currently close to 2 years living in Belfast after 4 years of living in Dublin and can honestly say I much prefer Belfast. Although its a shame that Nightclubs close early, theres something a bit more intimate about socialising in Bfast and I've usually found that people are (in most cases) more friendly and open.

The city in general I feel has more character than Dublin (funnily enough a by-product of the troubles!) and although wages are lower, money goes much much further and allows a far higher standard of living than down south!!

Dont mistake me for having an anti-Dublin agenda, I enjoy my sporadic weekend visits down there but I'd think long and hard about moving back permanently.

Sonnenblumen

cancercowboy wrote: »

So I was in Belfast for the last couple of days, I've never been to Northern Ireland before. After I saw how things are there I was filled with a huge sense of shame and regret.

Belfast is a beautiful city. It's clean, no litter to be seen. There a no scumbags or romas begging you fro change. No charity muggers harassing you. No roaming gangs of delinquent youths bothering you. Very little graffiti.

The city centre's architecture is gorgeous, and I didn't notice one store front empty. The arts and culture are heavily emphasized in the city centre and trendy restaurants share space with major retailers. The city centre is laid out beautifully and walking the streets unmolested was a real joy. Northern Irish people were working in shops and they were very friendly. I did not meet one rude person. Belfast is booming despite having a higher corporation tax rate than us. Why?

This, of course, contrasts significantly with my experience living in Dublin.

In Belfast Central train station there are couches and comfortable seating. The shop and the bar are open late, at least they were open until I left at 20:10.

When I got back to Connolly Station all the shops were closed, the only seating was blocked off and it was ridged steal seating. The place was filthy and of course the shop was closed, and you had no access to the ATMs. When I go downstairs the Luas is machines are vending tickets, and the sign says it will be there in 2 minutes, only to see it bypass the Connolly Station stop entirely. No sign informing me to get the Luas at the Busarus stop. I guess I am expected to be psychic. On my way home on the luas I see a horribly planned city, filthy, the streets lined with drunks and litter. When I get out of the Luas I see vomit and the same litter that was there when I left two days ago.

Dublin is in a right state. The shops that aren't boarded up, ost of them have crappy signs that look like they were printed then glued up. There is graffit everywhere and when i ask for directions people sneer at my Cork accent like they are so much better for being born Dubliners, like it's some great honor to be from this ****e hole.

We, as a people need to get some pride. We need to start cleaning up our communities. We need to stop expecting some one else to do it and just get on with with. We need to start putting some value on ourselves and our environment. It is in a state. Were wrong minded and stubborn about it. Maybe if we had a clean, organized, well panned city it wouldn't be such a struggle to get businesses to invest in Ireland.

Even during the boom Dublin and Cork City were tips, we were wildly rich but still living in filth.

After seeing Belfast I have never been more ashamed of being from Éire.

Have you heard the news, there's a wonderful new tourist attraction enroute as we read to Cork. Paid for by the Cork City Fathers, it is said it will rival London's Eye or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. You're made for Cork's new wonder of the world.