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Personally I think the heart of Dun Laoghaire has simply moved down to the waterfront, by the library,whetherpoons area, the pier and I dont think thats such a bad thing, the restored baths will also solidify this movement even further. The main street is a bit dead though, I think that big ignorant hulking behemoth that is the DLR shopping centre is acting as a kind of dead zone barrier between the old town bit and the waterfront area, it needs to be nuked ASAP, how in gods name was it ever built, it is excessive in scale in the extreme, I guarantee you if it was replaced with some nice high density mixed use apartments with some ground floor retail the town would breathe a collective sigh of relief and be all the better for it
Maybe even rebuild the nice victorian buildings that ugly crap replaced, would help the image of the town as a historic victorian seaside location to visit
I was just looking online and this is what the whetherspoons building thing used to look like,a real pity I think, the town would look infinitely better today if it hadnt been replaced
Same view today
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.294449,-6.1337408,3a,90y,172.38h,84.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGBCGPLr8tzL_kUFQJ_RZMg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Its actually tragic how **** 20th C architecture was and how many of the worlds beautiful cities and towns it absolutely destroyed, just adds insult to injury that the beautiful church on marine road burnt down as well0 -
The restored BAths?Personally I think the heart of Dun Laoghaire has simply moved down to the waterfront, by the library,whetherpoons area, the pier and I dont think thats such a bad thing, the restored baths will also solidify this movement even further. The main street is a bit dead though, I think that big ignorant hulking behemoth that is the DLR shopping centre is acting as a kind of dead zone barrier between the old town bit and the waterfront area, it needs to be nuked ASAP, how in gods name was it ever built, it is excessive in scale in the extreme, I guarantee you if it was replaced with some nice high density mixed use apartments with some ground floor retail the town would breathe a collective sigh of relief and be all the better for it
Maybe even rebuild the nice victorian buildings that ugly crap replaced, would help the image of the town as a historic victorian seaside location to visit
I was just looking online and this is what the whetherspoons building thing used to look like,a real pity I think, the town would look infinitely better today if it hadnt been replaced
Same view today
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.294449,-6.1337408,3a,90y,172.38h,84.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGBCGPLr8tzL_kUFQJ_RZMg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Its actually tragic how **** 20th C architecture was and how many of the worlds beautiful cities and towns it absolutely destroyed, just adds insult to injury that the beautiful church on marine road burnt down as well
The baths are not being restored !!!!yhey are being filled in and a foot path being put in. Richard Boyd Barrett and his Merry men have a lot to answer for. We could have had a nice complex but will just have a foot path.
It’s being along time since the pavilion looked like that. There was a cinema and petrol station there before they built the theatres , gym , car park etc0 -
I grew up in Dun Laoghaire, am in my mid-40s and now after time away have my office at the back of the town. That gives me a decent perspective on some of the changes that have happened over the years, quite apart from my work in town planning consultancy. I think some of the simplistic comment you see on here and on a couple of Facebook groups are just that, simplistic. If you want a bit of an explanation as to why the town is where it is, consider the following...
- The retail heart has moved away from Dun Laoghaire, no denying that, but it is not because of parking charges or business rates. Really you say?
When I was a kid, DL was the supermarket and fresh food destination for 5 miles around, in a time when money was very tight and options limited. It was the focus of many bus routes when the DART was only catching on. On weekdays it was busy, on weekends it was black. Parents (mainly women working in the home, without a second car) brought their kids to Dominican Primary and Secondary schools, to CBS Eblana Ave and to Pres brothers in Glasthule and the Senior Colleges (Techs). Most days they would spend a few pence in the town and that meant footfall. They got uniforms and school supplies every summer and Christmas was well catered for, so seasonal trade was in rude health. In turn, the cafés and draperies were busy and that meant numbers of staff in the area with their own money to spend around the place.
These days, that custom is gone because all the schools bar Dominican primary is gone. Ironically Bloomfields centre rose where Domican secondary was demolished. A daft equation in many ways. Of course at the same time, house prices crept up and the population aged hugely. Online is the new place for school supplies, along with many other products too.
In my opinion, the Councillors of old Dun Laoghaire borough and subsequent DLR Dun Laoghaire ward were always massively conservative and hesitant, so when opportunities came, they were snapped up by Dundrum, Sandyford and the like. Along with the M50 opening up the wider suburbs, this further bled away that customer with the disposable income. At the same time, the ferries left, largely because of traffic access limitations.
Retail rents did not move with the times in DL, mainly because so much of the main street and shopping centre, property is owned by a few large entities and pension funds (including Dunnes and Coltard) who could afford to sit of these properties as appreciating assets. Im not sure many local people recognise that factor.
As for parking charges, you always hear the drum being banged by the few local interests of it killing the town, but the fact is the very same regime exists in the busy Dalkey and Blackrock, but in Dun Laoghaire's case it was actually demanded by many local businesses and residents who on weekdays simply couldnt source parking at their homes or for their customers as every street became the DART carpark. Now, at least, residents are returning to the town centre in new build apartments and larger houses in places like Adelaide Street and Clarinda Park where former office conversions and flats are returning to single large dwellings. This is a good thing for the life blood of the town.
Apart from that, I know of many small IT driven companies moving into nooks and crannies around the town having being priced out of the mental City Centre scene. Also too, the Harbour Innovation Campus has been just been approved for the old HSS terminal, driven by guys who know the sector and with a DART and bus hub on their doorsteps. 1,000 new jobs there is not a fanciful target with the City short on space and high on price.
The one big nut to crack is the rental cost of retail properties (and personally Id demolish the shopping centre and put 500 mixed apartments there 2 mins from the DART with light retail at street level to add to the 24 hour life of the town).
The world is changing fast, Dun Laoghaire has been left somewhat behind, but in my experience its far from dead and it has massive positives to propel it into a new existence of next generation residents, business food and services, co-ordinated by sensible and practical planning and community input.
The tools are there.
This
Very good summation and talk of the potential that is in Dun Laoghaire. Hopefully it will come to fruition with/in spite of the conservatism of the Council. 0 -
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