Need an urgent advice... moving to Smithfield...

j0sh

hi guys
i'm thinking to move to smithfield from the city center cause i've a noisy apartment during the night
i saw an apartment on the smithfield square... what do you think about it? this place could be noisy during the night?
thanks

RebelButtMunch

This town
Is gonna be a ghost town
bands don't play no more
too much fighting on the dance floor

-Ghost town

Dord

j0sh wrote: »

hi guys
i'm thinking to move to smithfield from the city center cause i've a noisy apartment during the night
i saw an apartment on the smithfield square... what do you think about it? this place could be noisy during the night?
thanks

It's not too bad actually, pretty dead at nighttime normally. It is noisier now during the morning and day due to the construction work though. Also beware that a Tescos is moving into Block C in the Market complex. Sometimes the hipsters make noise with parties in the Tulleys Tiles building or art students in the Complex. However, the Complex is going soon and the aforementioned Tesco is going in there.

j0sh

Thanks guys for ur replies... i read about noise during the night from the square and something bad in the area like robbery and similar

Vercoda

My first post! Yay! And how better to use it than to give a few truthful - and useful - comments on living in Smithfield Market?

I live in Block C, which is the main block that faces the plaza on one side, and stares directly into Block B, beside, a few feet away on the other side of the alley. I've been living here for just over two years - and I'll be moving out in a month, as, believe me, Smithfield Market is awful in Summer. Seriously. Where to begin...

All of the apartments have floor-to-ceiling glass frontage, which looks nice... until you consider that, of course, this means that there is zero noise insulation from outside. If someone is 200 feet away, walking through the cut-through, or on the phone, you can hear them (even without bionic ear implants). Now, just think for a moment what warm weather, summer, and several balcony parties with lots of drunk, roaring people does? That's right - it creates a very loud racket, at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6am. The noise from drunken, shouting, roaring, shrieking people is very loud - and that's ignoring four or five different music sources. Which also means, of course, that if soeone is having a party in the balcony above/below you, you will be a 'guest' at that party, while they shout, roar, etc.

Several times, I had to sleep on the floor in the bathroom, away from the bedroom, and could still hear the bedlam outside, while my flatmate spends most of her time away at her BF's apartment in Summer, or simply ups and leaves around 11pm. Knowing different people who've lived in different parts of this complex, and on different floors, I've heard the same thing again and again - the curious acoustics of how the buildings face each other work quite well in screening out the surrounding city noise - but they amplify any and all noise coming from the Market itself, including people walking through, talking on phones, or - a common sound - wild kids shrieking and screaming, or junkies roaring at each other, or other, unwelcome such noise.

Then, of course, even if it's the middle of the day... there is zero noise insulation between the apartments. In our living room, we can hear four televisions - we only own one! But we hear the one to the side, the one above, and the one below; we can also hear the distinctive snick-snick-snick noises when they're slicing vegetables, or the rattle as they open kitchen presses, or sometimes rustling as they lift up their bin bag... My flatmate can hear every word of the loud arguments from next door, where their living room is beside her bedroom, and, though I'm a room away, I can also hear the TVs from both sides, in my bedroom; sometimes, you can feel faint furniture vibrations, if they're watching something extra loud/with music. (Remind me again - how much did these apartments cost when they were built?!)

It's fair to say that weekdays are mostly quiet - but not always, as I've/we've all had to get through more than a few Tuesday or Wednesday parties that went on to 5am or so - so, weekdays here can be quiet enough. But, come the weekend... As I say, it often gets as noisy as Temple Bar at chucking-out time, here; all those eejits roaring etc don't give a damn about all the other people, and families (as there are several families with small children here, too) that they know they're keeping awake. So, it's been two long, awful, noisy summers, living here - which is why I'm not going to put myself through a third one, and am moving out very soon, before all that nonsense starts again in earnest.

Why focus so much on the noise? Well, if you're bothered by a noisy apartment where you are now - trust me, this is not the place for you, as two years of living here through hellish summers, and having friends ask me: "What's that noise?" on the first few times they came over, etc - not that they agree to come back to Smithfield again - make me an unwilling expert in some of the many, many things wrong with the slowly-sinking Smithfield Market complex, from which I shall be perfectly happy to move out from soon, away from the noisy neighbours, summer bedlam, aggressive junkies and feral kids at the Luas, and so on. But Those are other, discouraging life-in-Smithfield stories - and look!

I managed to complete this, my first post, without even mentioning the bloody awful Smithfield Horse Fair! Oh. :-P

j0sh

Thanks Vercoda for ur post... i'm living in a very noisy apt in the city center so i can understand u
if u're moving don't move near temple bar or to an apartment facing any street :-)

Vercoda

They won't understand you, but you'll feel better for it.

No, apartment! No! Bad domestic abode, bad!

I've learned my lesson well; there's no way I'm moving to another apartment. Hmmmmmmm... well, actually, most apartments built up until the early 90s are mostly ookay - horribly dated and worn, of course, but they tend to be a little better-built, with better insulation as well between them.

The Smithfield Markets do look nice, it's true, and they have a nice, spacious design - but the flaws in living here are pretty substantial, which is, I presume, why there's a high turnover of people moving in/out, and I've certainly heard very similar opinions/complaints from neighbours, and others I know living here.

I'm off to the Southside - I've had quite enough of stepping gingerly around passed-out alcos or dead-eyes junkies at the Smithfield Luas stop, thank you...

j0sh

Vercoda wrote: »

They won't understand you, but you'll feel better for it.

No, apartment! No! Bad domestic abode, bad!

I've learned my lesson well; there's no way I'm moving to another apartment. Hmmmmmmm... well, actually, most apartments built up until the early 90s are mostly ookay - horribly dated and worn, of course, but they tend to be a little better-built, with better insulation as well between them.

The Smithfield Markets do look nice, it's true, and they have a nice, spacious design - but the flaws in living here are pretty substantial, which is, I presume, why there's a high turnover of people moving in/out, and I've certainly heard very similar opinions/complaints from neighbours, and others I know living here.

I'm off to the Southside - I've had quite enough of stepping gingerly around passed-out alcos or dead-eyes junkies at the Smithfield Luas stop, thank you...

actually i'm living in an apartment well insulated but the noise from the street sometimes is really annoying... i'm on the first floor and from the street can hear people shouting during the night... i'm looking now for an apartment not facing the street...

diddlybit

Hey OP. If you are looking to move up this direction Stoneybatter is quite enough I find and about a 5minute walk to the Luas stop. There are a couple of apartment blocks around here, been to one on Manor Street behind the Centra to visit a friend and they were all facing the courtyard so there wouldn't be any problems with noise.

Also used to live in Temple Bar near Oliver Gogharty's. Loved it because it was so central, but my god, hen and stag parties at half five on a Sat morning. Ugh. Strangely enough though, streets were always clean when I got up in the mornings. But then the constant street cleaning were always going past the window.

j0sh

diddlybit wrote: »

Also used to live in Temple Bar near Oliver Gogharty's. Loved it because it was so central, but my god, hen and stag parties at half five on a Sat morning. Ugh. Strangely enough though, streets were always clean when I got up in the mornings. But then the constant street cleaning were always going past the window.

ohhh yes... i know... i'm in the same situation now...

Miguel_Sanchez

Move a bit up the road and get a house in Stoneybatter. Same price but much nicer and quieter.

j0sh

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

Move a bit up the road and get a house in Stoneybatter. Same price but much nicer and quieter.

thanks for the advice... i'll check ;-)

cosmic

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

This town
Is gonna be a ghost town
bands don't play no more
too much fighting on the dance floor

-Ghost town

Ah, the national anthem...

ixoy

Lived in Smithfield Market as well and it's a "No" from me too. I didn't hear as much noise from the neighbours but elsewhere - yes. A pub opened two floors below me, sharing its music through our floors.

At night you could hear the sound of high heels crossing the cobbles and, of course, the insightful discourse of junkies.

My favourite though, without a doubt, was "Smithfield on Ice". 12 hours a day of crappy music being pumped out of the loud speakers into the apartment. We even had to go to it and ask for the music to be turned down (only for it to be turned up again shortly after). To get away from it I had to listen to white noise to be able to concentrate and ended up leaving the apartment more frequently.

Then there's the local kids who - once in a gang of about fifty - tore across the square and stormed the Spar tearing things off the shelves. Other shops barricaded the doors in time.
Or when I found a homeless drunk slouched across the stairs (despite the door being electronically locked).

And I also managed to complete this without even mentioning the horse fair. Oh wait...

Dandelion6

Huh. I live in Smithfield Market too, but in a different block off the square. My apartment faces into a little courtyard behind the Maldron. Occasionally some kids hang out in the courtyard and make noise, but it's not too big a problem. There don't seem to be a lot of parties, and I don't hear anything from my neighbours' apartments.

The area is a bit grim, admittedly, but this is the north inner city.

Fittle

Vercoda, if it's as bad as you say, why on earth did you stay there for TWO YEARS

I work close enough to smithfield and ramble across the square most days - I love it's location but always find it a bit grim if I'm honest. However, I have a young child, so I'm looking at it from a different perspective than you OP. I work with a student who has been living there for about 3 months now and she loves it.

j0sh

guys many thanks for your advices... i found an apartment on city quay... what do you think about this area... it's near the bridge with the harp
thanks again

diddlybit

j0sh wrote: »

it's near the bridge with the harp

The James Joyce bridge? A funny white one with a walkway on either side? Kind of looks like a harp?

Or the big square one near Connelly that may (or may not) have a Harp ad on it?

j0sh

diddlybit wrote: »

The James Joyce bridge? A funny white one with a walkway on either side? Kind of looks like a harp?

Or the big square one near Connelly that may (or may not) have a Harp ad on it?

in front of ifsc on city quay