New Limerick City Centre

MAStanley

Just a thread to discuss what the city centre needs to become a bustling hive of activity on any given day!

High positivity levels required only!

Ninthtym

I wish there were more independent/alternative shops and pubs/clubs. It seems like there is great musical talent in the city and around it, it'd be great to really promote that as 'our' thing too. Plus maybe the Opera centre, and people coming into town instead of going to all the huge shopping zones out the road.

tof2006

Easy access, cheap, and open till late parking. With the centre becoming more and more pedestrian, you really need easy and convenient parking to compete with outskirt malls.

The milk market is already doing some good buzzing on saturday morning, but it only seems to happen that morning.

Develop the banks of the Shannon more, they've done a nice job with north bank and it's new walk, I wonder if we could have a market along the banks, or some animation.
May be find something for the boat club house, I remember some gigs used to be hosted in there a couple of years ago ?
When you compare to waterford, along the banks of the river you have shops, restaurant...etc.... and you can see it could work in Limerick by just watching the Locke Bar & co or the oustside of clohessy on a sunny day.... I wonder why they choose to build appartment there instead of commercial venues ....

tof2006

@Ninthtym : what do you mean by independent/alternative shops ?

Seems there is already good few alternative pubs ( Mickey, wicked, .. ) usually always with the same crowd ( and a good one ) , not sure there is a market for more...

Xennon

Would there be enough trade to run the market 6 days a week?
I think so, perhaps not all the stalls but I think there is a market there for farm fresh produce sold directly from the growers to the public. Think of the English Market in Cork that is a great attraction to their city centre.

A real concert hall and centre for live events?
Not a converted lecture theatre pls, but something we can be proud of (yeah like the old savoy). Doesn't have to be huge, something around 1000 capacity multi function space that could cater for everything from Opera to Rock and everything along the way, with a smaller space for smaller attractions to run.

A food hall where a number of cafes and resteraunts could ply their trade and those of us who like to sit 'al fresco' can do so under protection from the irish weather.

A large FREE carpark, after all if you are driving into town then you are there to spend money, being charged to come into town to spend money is wrong.

Perhaps incorporate all of the above into the Opera space.

Ease off on rates and there would be far more independent shops set up in the city, there's no way a small shop can maintain some of the rates being charged at the moment.

I do hope something is done soon though.

yupyup7up

William St. is starting to take shape very well! The new street lights and the new footpaths looks really cool!

Ninthtym

tof2006 wrote: »

@Ninthtym : what do you mean by independent/alternative shops ?

Seems there is already good few alternative pubs ( Mickey, wicked, .. ) usually always with the same crowd ( and a good one ) , not sure there is a market for more...

Yeah I think the Wicked chicken and Mickey Martins are where it's at. I just came back to live here and I remember the Termights and High stool days, club nights that weren't just house or chart music. I guess it's just being sentimental but you're right The Chicken is buzzing alright, great music, shame it's so tiny. Maybe there isn't enough a demand for it anymore.
In terms of shops, it just seems something else closes weekly, it'd be lovely to have lots of small shops owned by local people as well as the big brands.
I love the idea of using the riverfront more, one of the best assets in the city, we should be proud of it!

Poxyshamrock

Something like Opera Lane in Cork with big shops in the city centre such as Topshop/Topman, H&M, Gap, Marks and Spencer and maybe a cinema!

RonMexico

Cinema cinema cinema! There is nothing to do after the shops close other than go to a bar.

DeWinterZero

Lots of popular womens clothes shops that are not available in the Cresent. Cause most guys aren't into shopping that much.

A cinema would also give people something to do when their finished shopping. Or draw them into town so they'd go shopping after their film.

Lots of pubs, clubs & restaurants won't make the town busy during the day.

The whole free parking thing is a red herring. There's no free parking in Galway or Cork either. If the shops are there people will put up with the multistory parking.

krudler

RonMexico wrote: »

Cinema cinema cinema! There is nothing to do after the shops close other than go to a bar.

this, Limerick is an absolute ghost town past 6pm, are any cafes open late?

Simon Adebisi

More clothes shops for men.

More gardai.

More outdoor seating ( well april - september ).

bazz26

We need a new Christmas Tree now that the old one sank. :pac:

On a serious note, I think there are a number of similar threads on this subject here already. No quick fix for this unfortunately, not while there is such a high level of unemployment in the region, people are simply not spending what they used to.

ZombieBride

oops wrong thread

Berty

Monorail

padma

a new factory to take over the Opera centre. Jobs for everyone, a roaring lunch time trade for the city and add a bit of traffic congestion around 4 o clock, if that fails, free concerts in the lashing rain in Arthurs quay park.

ErnieBert

Simon Adebisi wrote: »

More clothes shops for men.

More gardai.

More outdoor seating ( well april - september ).

The media in Galway claim that there are twice as many Gardai based in Limerick as there are in Galway city's three stations despite the fact that both cities are of similar population size.

As an outsider, the river banks have a massive potential. They are just crying out to be utilised. It is so beautiful.

Also, the central location of the train station is a big plus.

cul-2008

DeWinterZero wrote: »

Lots of popular womens clothes shops that are not available in the Cresent. Cause most guys aren't into shopping that much.

A cinema would also give people something to do when their finished shopping. Or draw them into town so they'd go shopping after their film.

Lots of pubs, clubs & restaurants won't make the town busy during the day.

The whole free parking thing is a red herring. There's no free parking in Galway or Cork either. If the shops are there people will put up with the multistory parking.

totally agree with you there DeWinterZero. In a related note, I was up in Dublin on Saturday, and was passing through Clontarf so I said I'd stop for a bite to eat.

Parked the car right by the sea next to all the restaurants/shops etc and hopped out to pay for a parking disk, and low and behold it was free! 4pm on a Saturday, carpark was full and so were the restaurants. Says it all really.

Poxyshamrock

ErnieBert wrote: »

The media in Galway claim that there are twice as many Gardai based in Limerick as there are in Galway city's three stations despite the fact that both cities are of similar population size.

As an outsider, the river banks have a massive potential. They are just crying out to be utilised. It is so beautiful.

Also, the central location of the train station is a big plus.

A galwegian saying we've a centrally located train station? :O

Personally, I think Colbert Station has such an awkward location!

meoklmrk91

The City Centre needs something that you can't get in the Crescent or whatever. It's needs something to draw people in even in the lashing rain. I think free parking is a great idea for starters or at the very least cheaper.

The City Centre has no buzz or life to it, everytime I go Dublin or Cork you always see people busking or street performing. I very rarely see that in Limerick. Also it could do with a few festivals, why not organize a music festival for up a coming talent in the peoples park or somewhere like that. And a good cinema, jesus storm is rubbish, the omniplex however has come on in leaps and bounds. But a good Cinema is badly needed and even more so than any new kind of shopping centre. Make Limerick somewhere people want to go not just somewhere people have to go.

Mc Love

The first hour in all the multistoreys should be free and after that normal pricing should resume

constantg

bazz26 wrote: »

We need a new Christmas Tree now that the old one sank. :pac:

actually yeah, what's the city council's story with this?

savagecabbages

Bus lanes that actually reduce travel time for the bus routes, rather than just on the less congested parts...

How about local buses that actually stop at the cities main bus and train station?

As mentioned by several posters, a cinema!

The area including the abandoned Dunnes (is it even abandoned???), Arthurs Quay shopping centre and the proposed Opera Centre is vital to the city. Right now its a disgrace. Ok Pennys, Debenhams and Tesco are drawing punters, but there is very little else happening around this area at the moment...

The RIVER SHANNON, Limericks most important natural feature seems to be completely overlooked. Development should have the river as a focal point, rather than just an obstacle that cant be built upon.

As an aside, what is the current status of the Opera Centre?

osarusan

It's been pointed out that free parking would just mean that every space was taken before shops open by city centre staff driving into the city.

What would work better is some kind of voucher system - spend more than E10 (for example) and you get a voucher validated which means parking is free for, say...2 hours, with a spend of E20 giving you 4 hours, and so on.

Retailers might even pay (say E50) a month to get their business listed in a booklet of vouchers.Customers would be more likely to buy from a place that validates free parking vouchers than from one that doesn't (all other things being equal).

Of course, that doesn't actually mean that people are more likely to visit the city centre because the big big problem is that there's nothing to do there. I lived in Limerick until moving abroad six months ago, and apart from heading to the pubs, I'd struggle to find enough to do to spend 4 hours in the city, even if my parking was free.

Resi12

A cinema (how this is STILL ignored is beyond me), more shops, better stock in existing shops.

I don't know who the hell hires the buyers in Limerick for clothes shops, for example Penneys. The men's section is diabolical compared to Dublin, up there you can get such nice clothes on the cheap. Down here it's all casual tracksuits and tacky chequered shirts, I don't get it. Perhaps that's what sells down here sadly?

Hmmm, definitely more street performers on places like Cruises St to liven up the place. The Opera Centre has to be completed to give a much needed injection into the retail sector. However they need shops like M&S, Topman, more tourist places like Butlers, LUSH, Costa and or Starbucks, TGI Friday's, A place like Birthdays such as Hallmark or The Card Company, Pull & Bear. Shops unique to Limerick that will make people start to shop actually in the city and not in the Crescent and/or online. If it's gonna be opened to yet ANOTHER River Island/Tesco/Mc Donalds venue, they can cram it.

Parking.. Really I never get the hoo-ha people go on about here. Me and my 2 friends went for dinner today. Got free parking no bother and every other time I have never had a problem with parking. Honestly I don't think it's even that bad, it's just more a case of the cost (whatever it may be) not being worth it since there is nothing that special in town.

Beer Baron

Beer Baron wrote: »

Monorail

Just imagine it...
Limerick could be up there with Ogdenville, North Haverbrook and Brockway!

By God, it would put us on the map!

savagecabbages

2 Monorails

Twice as good as one

tfitzgerald

What we need is a city council that gives a fcuk about the city and not one that seems to be doing it's best to mess it up. Also it seems to me that every street in Limk is classed as a loading bay or taxi rank. We have no shops so why the need for so many loading bays

Mc Love

Mc Love wrote: »

The first hour in all the multistoreys should be free and after that normal pricing should resume

Don't ask me where I read it, but an American multistory car park was having trouble getting people to use it so they had advertised that if you used the car park you had a 50% chance of it being free. (odds may have been worse, I can't really remember) Maybe something like that could encourage more people to the city.

Although if the city multistory are almost at capacity, it would be hard to encourage them to do this.

+1 on the cinema! I miss the savoy...

Poxyshamrock

osarusan wrote: »

It's been pointed out that free parking would just mean that every space was taken before shops open by city centre staff driving into the city.

What would work better is some kind of voucher system - spend more than E10 (for example) and you get a voucher validated which means parking is free for, say...2 hours, with a spend of E20 giving you 4 hours, and so on.

Retailers might even pay (say E50) a month to get their business listed in a booklet of vouchers.Customers would be more likely to buy from a place that validates free parking vouchers than from one that doesn't (all other things being equal).

Of course, that doesn't actually mean that people are more likely to visit the city centre because the big big problem is that there's nothing to do there. I lived in Limerick until moving abroad six months ago, and apart from heading to the pubs, I'd struggle to find enough to do to spend 4 hours in the city, even if my parking was free.

I actually think this in operation now! Saw a sign on Wacky shoes window with some parking offer in conjunction with Q Park, I think!

niceview

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I actually think this in operation now! Saw a sign on Wacky shoes window with some parking offer in conjunction with Q Park, I think!

This is definitely in place. Savins and O'Mahoneys are also on board. You spend so much (depends on the shop) and you get an hour free parking. It's a good idea, but to be honest, the parking issue is blown out of all proportion. It is an issue, but nearly as much as is claimed.