The best way to promote the city of limerick?

Amazotheamazing

angry kitten wrote: »

Fantastic ideas about promoting sporting events in Limerick. The problem is what do people do when the game is over. I wonder how many first time tourists going to Limerick actually cut their holiday short and if any of them ever return. Limerick is a ghost town, sorry but the accent is God-awful, there are so many scumbags walking the streets.

In all seriousness a trip to Limerick is like visiting an alien planet with a deeply unpleasant species.

I can appreciate the desire to do something with the city, but maybe its time to raze it to the ground and start again. As for the market what is the fuss about. Dull and full of stalls selling the same thing at varying prices

And other markets are different?

seachto7

angry kitten wrote: »

O'Connell street was virtually deserted and I couldn't help wondering what on earth they'd find to do in the city centre. I'm not anti Limerick, there are some wonderful parts of Limerick county. But realistically what would you do as a tourist with a few days to spend in the city centre?

Have you ever been to Perth? limerick is like a mini Perth...(withouth the sun obviously), but Perth is a small city centre, and is pure suburbia.

phog

angry kitten wrote: »

Fantastic ideas about promoting sporting events in Limerick. The problem is what do people do when the game is over. I wonder how many first time tourists going to Limerick actually cut their holiday short and if any of them ever return. Limerick is a ghost town, sorry but the accent is God-awful, there are so many scumbags walking the streets.

In all seriousness a trip to Limerick is like visiting an alien planet with a deeply unpleasant species.

I can appreciate the desire to do something with the city, but maybe its time to raze it to the ground and start again. As for the market what is the fuss about. Dull and full of stalls selling the same thing at varying prices

Visit King John's Castle, Limerick City Museum, the Hunt Museum, St. Mary's Cathedral, St. John's Cathedral, River walk. Lots of good resturants and pubs. I think you're really missing out if you cant think of something to do in the city.

lockman

angry kitten wrote: »

As for the market what is the fuss about. Dull and full of stalls selling the same thing at varying prices

Well, this food critic/journalist would beg to differ with you (taken from the Irish Examiner, full text link below).

.....
Saturday, Limerick, there’s only one place to be: The Milk Market on Cornmarket Row, which has existed in some form or other since 1852. A mixture of permanent units and temporary stalls, on market day it is absolutely buzzing. Passing through the old stone archways to the inner sanctum, you surrender to a joyous, boisterous, munching sea of humanity.

The place is a national treasure even if it remains — shamefully — unvisited by many Irish food lovers. The recent canopy development won the Public Choice Award at the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2011, days of lurking in the arches during downpours are now a thing of the past. It would be fruitless to attempt to list the fabulous stalls but the range of superb produce on offer is as good as anything available elsewhere in the country: fish, meat, cheeses, dairy, homemade jams, chutneys, baked goods and confectionary, all supplemented by imported goodies.

The icing on the cake is the ‘overspill’, those traders who pitch up outside the four walls, selling everything from homegrown organic produce to bric a brac to … well, whatever happens to be there on any given Saturday. Any Irish food lover who hasn’t already made the pilgrimage is living a lie. It is beyond compare, the best market in the country.

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/weekend/features/limericks-gourmet-gamble-163210.html#ixzz1kIbgi2QE

angry kitten

seachto7 wrote: »

Have you ever been to Perth? limerick is like a mini Perth...(withouth the sun obviously), but Perth is a small city centre, and is pure suburbia.

Oh now please, surely you jest. I hardly think one could find comparison between Limerick and Perth. Although historically convicts from Limerick were sent to Australia so perhaps if some ended up in Perth,maybe you could make a comparison.

angry kitten

bu

lockman wrote: »

Well, this food critic/journalist would beg to differ with you (taken from the Irish Examiner, full text link below).

.....
Saturday, Limerick, there’s only one place to be: The Milk Market on Cornmarket Row, which has existed in some form or other since 1852. A mixture of permanent units and temporary stalls, on market day it is absolutely buzzing. Passing through the old stone archways to the inner sanctum, you surrender to a joyous, boisterous, munching sea of humanity.

The place is a national treasure even if it remains — shamefully — unvisited by many Irish food lovers. The recent canopy development won the Public Choice Award at the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2011, days of lurking in the arches during downpours are now a thing of the past. It would be fruitless to attempt to list the fabulous stalls but the range of superb produce on offer is as good as anything available elsewhere in the country: fish, meat, cheeses, dairy, homemade jams, chutneys, baked goods and confectionary, all supplemented by imported goodies.

The icing on the cake is the ‘overspill’, those traders who pitch up outside the four walls, selling everything from homegrown organic produce to bric a brac to … well, whatever happens to be there on any given Saturday. Any Irish food lover who hasn’t already made the pilgrimage is living a lie. It is beyond compare, the best market in the country.

Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/weekend/features/limericks-gourmet-gamble-163210.html#ixzz1kIbgi2QE

Hee hee, I'm sorry but I just can't take this review seriously and IMO there are very obvious reasons why its 'unvisited' by many Irish food lovers. I appreciate and admire pride in ones county, however, looking at the city and I am talking specifically about the city, it is woefully lacking for the tourist..

lockman

angry kitten wrote: »

bu
Hee hee, I'm sorry but I just can't take this review seriously ....

Why not?
Do you think the market trustee's held a gun to Mr McNamee's head while he typed this?
Do you know something about the author that the rest of us dont? Namely, that he has some kind of pro-Limerick agenda?

In the op from you i quoted, you said the market was dull. Just thought i'd throw in the observations/thoughts of an independent food critic (maybe he isnt all that independent??), someone who isnt from the area and so on.

angry kitten

lockman wrote: »

Why not?
Do you think the market trustee's held a gun to Mr McNamee's head while he typed this?
Do you know something about the author that the rest of us dont? Namely, that he has some kind of pro-Limerick agenda?

In the op from you i quoted, you said the market was dull. Just thought i'd throw in the observations/thoughts of an independent food critic (maybe he isnt all that independent??), someone who isnt from the area and so on.

None of the above. My opinion is based on my own observations and experiences of the market. Frankly the market had a tent put over it, other than that there is little difference from any other market. I wonder if he Mr McNamee visited the rear of the Market? If he had he might have discovered part of the reason it isn't such a must see destination for other food lovers. And honestly, the florid language he used to describe the market would not have been out of place in an amateur dramatics production.

lockman

angry kitten wrote: »

bu
Hee hee, I'm sorry but I just can't take this review seriously .

Why do you feel it necessary to apologise for expressing your point of view?

angry kitten

lockman wrote: »

Why do you feel it necessary to apologise for expressing your point of view?

Probably politeness

Red Neck Hughie

Maybe take out a super injunction preventing anyone from limerick ever speaking about Limerick. People from outside love it, its the natives - from the mayor who feels litter surveys are unfair to poster on here who wont accept a decent review of an amazing market - that are the problem. No promotion needed, just stop the whinging, it's getting a bit old now. Limerick is a class place, The Shannon, UL, lovely little city centre, small town feel with big town potential etc

kilburn

angry kitten wrote: »

Probably politeness

Hmmm Ennis must be very quiet since the by pass opened seeing as no one needs to stop for petrol and fags on the way to Galway, Lahinch or Kilkee.

seachto7

angry kitten wrote: »

Oh now please, surely you jest. I hardly think one could find comparison between Limerick and Perth. Although historically convicts from Limerick were sent to Australia so perhaps if some ended up in Perth,maybe you could make a comparison.

Just for the fact that Perth, for the size of the city, has a small enough centre, with nothing much going on there....
Dublin would have WAY more going on in the city centre, and it's roughly the same size as Perth population wise.....
Limerick, at the moment, doesn't have much going on in the centre compared to days gone by..

Amazotheamazing

seachto7 wrote: »

Just for the fact that Perth, for the size of the city, has a small enough centre, with nothing much going on there....
Dublin would have WAY more going on in the city centre, and it's roughly the same size as Perth population wise.....
Limerick, at the moment, doesn't have much going on in the centre compared to days gone by..

Cairns and Darwin are tiny too. Real one horse towns despite having larger populations than Limerick. No comparison between what's on in dublin v. what's on in Perth, tbh.

I think the city centre is slowly improving but we need recognise it's a slow process. The pedestrianisation is making the city (slightly) more attractive, the quays and strands are much nicer now, the Market and the Market Quarter are improving. The Arts scene seems vibrant enough with Creative Limerick, the belltable, the stuff in the Loft etc. Hopefully the Arthouse cinema will get through planning in feb.

Limerick is a regional city in a peripheral country, are people expecting it to be New York or Barcelona or something?

SnoopyGunner

mikemac1 wrote: »

What happened the flying boats?
Wasn't there some company going to fly between Galway docks to the Shannon in Limerick.

And take the scenic route, along the West Clare coastline

I'd head to Limerick for a go at that and return trip back, spend a few hours in the city

I think there was a thread here and every rowing club were fine with it but one were objecting strongly


Also Limerick is the city of sport, how about hosting a tournament for Rugby Sevens?
I know a good few lads who spent a weekend in Edinburgh when they hosted it
You'll have international fans and people from the other nations, great advertisment

The Kinsale Rugby Sevens is great fun! We should do it here on a bigger scale and it would be wonderful fun... After all our lovely city (and feck the rest) is the home of Irish rugby and a lot of other good things, namely our people

Brennans Row

Mr Denvir, IDA regional manager of the Mid-West region was asked what were the biggest stumbling blocks preventing foreign direct investment in this region.

“If I was to pick one it would be the image and the development of the city,” he admitted.

I would like to see a place with activity happening and new investment, a place spic-and-span and really attractive to people coming here,” he continued. (Limerick Leader)

Fair enough.

Two of those points could be achieved by the 100.000 or so citizens of the city straight away.

If we stay on the ball with the on-going efforts in combatting litter plus if we show more loyalty to the heart of the city, by spending our money there.

Otherwise those jobs will probably go elsewhere.

ZombieBride

We need more festivals, properly organised ones though, not like the Mardi Gras fiasco, I was terrified that night in the city, taking firebreathers and a parade down Ellen Street? Whose bright idea was that?
Riverfest is good, as is the Heritage weekend, but what are people to do the other 49 weekend evenings (not nights, but evenings)
There needs to be a reason for people to bring their children in to the city. We have the great asset of pedestrianised areas on Bedford Row and Thomas Street, as well as Arthurs Quay park, these places just aren't used. Why can't the council bite the bullet on costs for a minute and have an alcohol free "band off" for free in the park, or something similar.
We have plenty of attractions, it's just the city centre feels off putting and after a certain hour plus quite a few of them are closed outside of business hours too, so what is there to do outside of drink in the city after 6pm?

(sorry for the rant)

Amazotheamazing

ZombieBride wrote: »

We need more festivals, properly organised ones though, not like the Mardi Gras fiasco, I was terrified that night in the city, taking firebreathers and a parade down Ellen Street? Whose bright idea was that?
Riverfest is good, as is the Heritage weekend, but what are people to do the other 49 weekend evenings (not nights, but evenings)
There needs to be a reason for people to bring their children in to the city. We have the great asset of pedestrianised areas on Bedford Row and Thomas Street, as well as Arthurs Quay park, these places just aren't used. Why can't the council bite the bullet on costs for a minute and have an alcohol free "band off" for free in the park, or something similar.
We have plenty of attractions, it's just the city centre feels off putting and after a certain hour plus quite a few of them are closed outside of business hours too, so what is there to do outside of drink in the city after 6pm?

(sorry for the rant)

The solution to the Mardi Gras thing is to improve it, not discard it, imo. Security can be improved. The good thing about the market quarter is that it is compact, that dynamic works well on Quay street in Galway and that's what the Market Quarter has to aim for.

Ok, we've Riverfest and Heritage, and 3 home ERC rugby games. 47 or so more weekends to fill. Ideally we'd find 4 or 5 big ideas that could work, like a midsummer festival, zombie-festival, etc, in addition to smaller local festivals like a proper film festival etc. I'd love to see a triathlon in the city centre, the river is finally clean enough for it, but it'd probably cause too much disruption.

ZombieBride

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The solution to the Mardi Gras thing is to improve it, not discard it, imo. Security can be improved.

Agreed, these things need to be organised better, the idea was good, the execution was bad. It could have been a great event, but it turned into a parade of drunk underage miscreants.

The zombie festival was good too, especially being it's first year and despite the rain, that one the public actually fully participated in and didn't completely degrade into a drinking fest, also children could participate freely, which worked too.

James McNulty

ZombieBride wrote: »

Agreed, these things need to be organised better....

thats an understatment!! i've been to the horse fair in Ballinasloe and the only difference between it and the "Mardi Brawl" last year was not as many horses!! You don;t want a poorly organised knack fest like that as a show piece for Limerick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FaBiHnkHJU

Louche Lad

Beer festival would be great. And other festivals - an annual arts festival? an annual food festival?

Boat racing in the Shannon? Other fun boating activities, like dragon boats?

Definitely clear up the litter.

CatFromHue

If Ireland ever enter a team in the IRB Sevens circuit Limerick should lobby extremely hard to get to host a leg of the circuit.

The Sevens has a big party atmosphere so would take over the whole city if run correctly.

godfrey

Some really great ideas here I must say. The entities charged with city event 'management' here are lame and careless and have done nothing for family events especially. I do know representations have been made to the City Council, and their response is something along the lines of 'but we already have x,y,z festivals, and anyway so & so company runs them. Not a great effort in fairness from the city officials.

I think it was in the topic of the Opera Ctr and it's future where I saw probably the best idea so far: Develop a 'city square' within it. Then the discussion degraded into all the statues we already have which are great attractions!! I think a city square is an excellent idea, a natural 'venue' for all kinds of secure events: music, arts, sports even?

Whatever events are in our future, we NEED to take a leaf from the Galway way of doing things. Simply put: exclude the scobes from the area. Physically stop them at barriers. This worked perfectly when I was there during the Volvo races. Not a hoodie in sight, friendly atmosphere, everyone friendly, and everyone felt welcome by the bars and clubs and casual security and Gardaí.

And for the human rights activists and nannies reading this:
I assert MY right to attend without harassment, intimidation, theft or thuggery. There.

g

Brennans Row

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

. . . . The good thing about the market quarter is that it is compact, that dynamic works well on Quay street in Galway and that's what the Market Quarter has to aim for.

A bit of wishful thinking here on my part, but I would love to see Dolan’s Pub and Warehouse relocate to the old Quin’s Bonded Store on Ellen Street and Workspace on Michael Street.

It would help to create an even greater concentration of nightlife entertainment in the Market Quarter thus making it a magnet for the whole region.

The Dock Road is pretty much off the beaten track?

Louche Lad

Brennans Row wrote: »

A bit of wishful thinking here on my part, but I would love to see Dolan’s Pub and Warehouse relocate to the old Quin’s Bonded Store on Ellen Street and Workspace on Michael Street.

It would help to create an even greater concentration of nightlife entertainment in the Market Quarter thus making it a magnet for the whole region.

The Dock Road is pretty much off the beaten track?

Yes, I miss Quin's, a gentle place I sometimes went to at lunchtime.