Northwood area safety

mirkomar

Hello,
I did not find any specific thread for this subject so I am opening this. If there is another one, please let me know and I will continue my conversation there.

We are a couple and we would like to move to Dublin in the near future. We are currently located in Sandyford for work reasons and I have to say the area is really quite and we feel very safe in here. The area is also served by the Luas that makes it easy to go to the City Center.
In the near future, though, we would like to buy a property and we were initially looking around the current area. I understand prices are MUCH lower than they were only 3-4 years ago, but still I can see that in other parts of Dublin prices are much lower.
I was impressed by cost of new constructions in Dublin 8 close to the Luas red line, but then I read about Rialto and its gangs and decided it was not a good choice... the same for East Wall, even if there are some new constructions... honestly I have to say that here and there all over Dublin someone is complaining about security!

I recently spotted out Northwood where there are some good prices and the area does not seem that bad.. it's close to the airport - that makes it easy to commute - and there are good parks, shops and new constructions.
So I was wondering if this is a good and quite area to live, considering I read bad things also for Ballymun, Santry and Finglas. If I am not wrong 1 year ago a man was shot on his private balcony...

I understand that generally - at the end - Dublin is not the safest place in the world or the most clean in terms of drugs, but if I had to live in here, what are your opinions/suggestions(ideas about Northwood, considering also the need to go to the city centre by public transport?

Thanks in advance to everyone,
Mirko

jd

We live in Northwood and have no major problems. If you are concerned about Ballymun then look at apartments closer to the Crown Plaza, rather than McDonalds/Eurospar. That said, when you move into an apartment you are taking your chances with the type of neighbours you have alongside you, above you and below you. I never heard of anyone having been shot on their balcony in Northwood, maybe you are thinking of this?

cson

Lived in Northwood for a month, its fine. In terms of actual amenities, you'll struggle to find somewhere better on the Northside of Dublin. The Ben Dunne Gym is grand and has a pool, the Eurospar is well stocked, there's a McDonalds for the munchies and then Aldi is only up the road too. Plus its right beside the airport which is a good thing if you travel a bit but a bad thing if the noise of the planes annoys you.

The apartments themselves are your standard celtic tiger build. At times it feels like you could be in a suburb in Krakow, lots of Polish accents around!

It is a nice bit out from town though if you're out on a night, about 20+ quid in a taxi to get home.

admiralofthefleet

cson wrote: »

Lived in Northwood for a month, its fine. In terms of actual amenities, you'll struggle to find somewhere better on the Northside of Dublin. The Ben Dunne Gym is grand and has a pool, the Eurospar is well stocked, there's a McDonalds for the munchies and then Aldi is only up the road too. Plus its right beside the airport which is a good thing if you travel a bit but a bad thing if the noise of the planes annoys you.

The apartments themselves are your standard celtic tiger build. At times it feels like you could be in a suburb in Krakow, lots of Polish accents around!

It is a nice bit out from town though if you're out on a night, about 20+ quid in a taxi to get home.

the coastline has great amenities. i am from raheny op, you should look there. dont listen to the crap you may hear about the northside its just piffle paffle

Strumms

I haven't lived there but I live not a million miles away and have a couple of friends there in apartments at the minute so I'm familiar with the setup. I contemplated taking an apartment there as I work at the airport but at the time the rent was quite high considering although its come down a ways since....

From what I can tell there is no issue at all as regards safety. It's a quiet area it seems for the amount of apartments. It has good amenities within Northwood itself such as coffee shops, a big Spar, McDonalds and other various stores in the adjacent Gullivers Park. Close to the airport, M50 and great bus services in either direction to Swords or the city.

The people in the apartments themselves... Well there is a very large Eastern European flavour, a lot of Ryanair staff seem to have it as their home too.

Not as a negative but just an as observation... As I witnessed a few times just as a semi regular visitor to my friends places and from speaking with them there seems to be a fair bit of heat over the last 12 months by the cops, a couple of raides with chopper overhead and heavy presence on the ground which is if what I am told correct... Vice related. Al gone quiet on that front again I hear but anyway that's my tale on Northwood, nice apartments especially the penthouses.

jd

Strumms wrote: »

Not as a negative but just an as observation... As I witnessed a few times just as a semi regular visitor to my friends places and from speaking with them there seems to be a fair bit of heat over the last 12 months by the cops, a couple of raides with chopper overhead and heavy presence on the ground which is if what I am told correct... Vice related. Al gone quiet on that front again I hear but anyway that's my tale on Northwood, nice apartments especially the penthouses.

Yeah, you are going to have issues every now and again with brothels (as in any large apartment development). Generally the OMCs and park management won't tolerate it and liaise with the Gardai when there is an issue, facilitating surveillance and making CCTV footage available to them.

mirkomar

Hello,

thanks a lot for your feedbacks!

We have traveled a lot across Europe and so we are used to have different cultures around ... and sometimes some noisy Polish people as well :P
It's not a moral judgment of them because honestly we have lots of friends in Warsaw, only that sometimes they can get really noisy and probably some that expatriated have not 100% good intentions...

Anyway... regarding Ballymun and other stories, what I don't understand... is crime related to foreign people or to some local "mafia" organization? It's pretty curious how many "not suggested" areas are in Dublin, considering that is not that big for an European capital. Sometimes I have the impression that the community itself created some "ghetto" spots here and there, because it is so strange how little good areas are very close to little "bad" areas.

I personally was interested in the Carrington buildings, but if you check Neighbours.ie it seems to be the worst place in Northwood due to plumbing problems, continuous car break-ins and totally absent noise insulation, at least for some people. On the contrary, if you read about Limewood, for example, everything seems fine, above all about noise insulation. But on the other side, in Limewood you would be closer to the "hot" zone, while in Carrington you would be closer to the Crowne Plaza and Swords road..
Anyone have experience about the above mentioned apartments?

Price-wise we were also considering Crosbies Yard, close to East Wall. This is another "sensible" area reading various comments from people on-line. Even in those buildings there are cars break-ins etc. but the construction seem fine and it is so close to the IFSC and the center! Anyone has experience in this case?

thank you for the interaction and your valid information

mirkomar

jd wrote: »

Yeah, you are going to have issues every now and again with brothels (as in any large apartment development). Generally the OMCs and park management won't tolerate it and liaise with the Gardai when there is an issue, facilitating surveillance and making CCTV footage available to them.

Unfortunately I had recently an experience in this sense also in Sandyford, so it seems that from that point of view the "business" is quite spread....

cson

Carrington is the building I lived in. Never had a problem there; it is safe.

mirkomar

cson wrote: »

Carrington is the building I lived in. Never had a problem there; it is safe.

have you ever had problems of noise insulation from the apartments above/below? this is what they say in Neighbours.ie

cson

Nope, can't say I ever noticed any or had a problem with it. Could have been lucky with the neighbours, I don't know. I will say that you can certainly hear the airport swinging back into action @ 6/7 in the morning and continuing through the day. Personally it doesn't bother me, I actually sleep better when I hear the sounds of traffic, be it vehicular or aircraft related! If you're a light sleeper then it might be a problem.

Squ

I wouldnt worry about the brothels too much. I lived in the Casino in malahide, the only time it affected my day to day living was getting past the cctv van parked on the path, or johns looking to get in the gate.

mirkomar

cson wrote: »

Nope, can't say I ever noticed any or had a problem with it. Could have been lucky with the neighbours, I don't know. I will say that you can certainly hear the airport swinging back into action @ 6/7 in the morning and continuing through the day. Personally it doesn't bother me, I actually sleep better when I hear the sounds of traffic, be it vehicular or aircraft related! If you're a light sleeper then it might be a problem.

Hi, thanks a lot. On Neighbours.ie there were people saying that going through the stairs you could actually hear what people were saying/doing in their apartments.. Maybe it's related to the specific block? In which block were you?

Fuzzytrooper

My wife and I have been living in Northwood since the end of last October up near the Spar - we moved up from Waterford. You can hear some slight noise in the corrodors sometimes but it doesn't tend to spill over into the apartment itself. One of my top priorities was safety for my wife and so far I have found Northwood grand. I run at night and so far I haven't had any issues or hassle.

mirkomar

Fuzzytrooper wrote: »

My wife and I have been living in Northwood since the end of last October up near the Spar - we moved up from Waterford. You can hear some slight noise in the corrodors sometimes but it doesn't tend to spill over into the apartment itself. One of my top priorities was safety for my wife and so far I have found Northwood grand. I run at night and so far I haven't had any issues or hassle.

Hi, I have the same concern for my partner, so glad to hear that, thanks. I presume you are in the Lymewood buildings and in fact I was told there was no noise problem there. How's overall quality?

Fuzzytrooper

Yup we're up in Lymewood. Overall we're happy with the quality. Common areas are very well maintained. The livingroom does cool down relatively quickly with no heating on but that's probably due to the no of windows vs solid walls. It does heat up extremely quickly too though I have noticed a slight bit of damp around the livingroom windows but other than that the room is bone dry so overall I wouldn't have any issues moving in if I were you. Definitely above average compared to the other non-northwood properties we viewed. I've had no noise issues so far.

(I did also have a problem with the gas boiler but I seem to be haunted by boiler gremlins wherever I go).

mirkomar

thanks for sharing... we might become neighbors then

the car parking is only on the surface?

I think we actually viewed the premises of the building that is closer to Dr. Conor O'Brien premises and we noticed some leak problems in the corridors on the ceilings, but the entrance was pretty nice. I have read that apartments have high ceilings and rooms are larger than average.

Our main issue is that we will have to use public transport when we go to the city center, so if anyone had experience in this sense is much appreciated

Fuzzytrooper

Im a good neighbour I promise We have an underground parking space. I'm not sure how to go about getting one as ours was already allocated to the apartment. Probably depends on your landlord. Anyhoo there's a decent choice of buses going in. The No 4 goes from the bottom of Northwood just by the Topaz garage. That goes into O'Connel street and bridge, and I think heads up by trinity. I normally get one of the 41s or the 33 bus on the Swords Rd, both of which head into Lower Abbey St. They seem to be more regular than the No 4 - I never have to wait more than 5-10 mins. I normally get the stop by the Swiss Cottage (Just up from the Omni shopping centre).

mirkomar

It takes some time to go from Lymewood to Santry Road side, right? Are you passing from Northwood itself or Santry Ave.?
By the way I noticed the broken glasses of the security box at the entrance ... not very welcoming

emzolita

I live in parklands the last 2years and Love it. The park across the road, the bus on the swords road, and the lovely grounds are kept well.
Had a problem with a really noisy neighbour but the management company sorted it swiftly.

mirkomar

emzolita wrote: »

I live in parklands the last 2years and Love it. The park across the road, the bus on the swords road, and the lovely grounds are kept well.
Had a problem with a really noisy neighbour but the management company sorted it swiftly.

Thanks for the info. It seems that different buildings have different management companies, so probably yours is good. I have read that in Carrington they are not that happy..
Anyway I know that some buildings in Parklands have some issues with pyrite, do you know which ones exactly? Thank you

emzolita

mirkomar wrote: »

Thanks for the info. It seems that different buildings have different management companies, so probably yours is good. I have read that in Carrington they are not that happy..
Anyway I know that some buildings in Parklands have some issues with pyrite, do you know which ones exactly? Thank you

Oh I have never heard about Pyrite at all in the time I have lived here, I'm only renting though.
there's a fantastic residents committee too in Parklands. theyre very keen on sorting out issues in the area, and have a strong pull with the management company.

mirkomar

emzolita wrote: »

Oh I have never heard about Pyrite at all in the time I have lived here, I'm only renting though.
there's a fantastic residents committee too in Parklands. theyre very keen on sorting out issues in the area, and have a strong pull with the management company.

That's sounds really good.
As for pyrite probably parklands is not affected but I am not sure

mirkomar

Is there anyone that lives or has lived in Carrington? I have read very strange things on other forums

JustAThought

mirkomar wrote: »

Is there anyone that lives or has lived in Carrington? I have read very strange things on other forums

Are you looking to buy or to rent OP?

mirkomar

JustAThought wrote: »

Are you looking to buy or to rent OP?

I keep both options open...
But I could try for a rental and then decide to buy if an opportunity comes along.
Do you have any suggestions regarding Carrington?
Thank you