Limerick after 6pm.

Cityslicker1

I was in Galway on Sunday up to 9pm and the place was so vibrant and busy with all the restaurants on Quay street packed & buskers and street entertainers up to Eyre Sq. The majority of people on the street were tourists but in general I find Galway has such a cosmopolitan feel day & night - with all types of people. I have to say Cork has a similar atmosphere & Dublin being the capital even busier again.

It's frustrating how dead Limerick is with nothing going on. I believe Limerick's image problem is one of the main reasons you rarely hear people going for a weekend away to Limerick city & the obvious lack of tourists on the streets. Even during the day there's a very local feel with no real variety of different types of people almost like a small country town. Considering Limerick is the 3rd largest urban area in the country it's shocking how an average day in the city centre does not reflect this.

What's even more surprising is how no effort seems to be made to rejuvenate Limerick - What has ever been done to shake off the rough rep it has - absolutely Zero. More needs to be done to attract tourists & Irish people for weekends away etc. The city needs a serious injection of energy & life.

Insect Overlord

Think of of another way. Most of our best bars and restaurants are fairly spread out.

Flannery's, Tom Collins', the Red Hen, Nancy's, the Locke, Mickey Martin's, the Copper Room, could all be hopping but if you're on your way to one of them you've no idea what's happening in the others. Same with Cornstore, Texas Steak-Out, Chocolat, La Piccola, etc. Even the spots on O'Connell Street are almost blocks apart. Nowhere really busy enough to attract more than one lad and his guitar.

There isn't the same concentration of activity on smaller streets until the Icon, Molly's, Nancy's and Angel Lane kick into life (and nightclub/late bar atmosphere is usually awful, in my own opinion). What busker would feel safe setting up in the middle of the stumbling herd outside Turkuaz and Top Pizza?

OfTheMarsWongs

Last Saturday you had Inter Milan V Celtic on Thomond Park at 7 and Imelda May in King John's Castle at 9. Lots of tourists and day trippers around.

I'm sure there were other things going on too.

vkid

There is very little to go into the city center for after 6pm. There isnt even a cinema, shops are closed etc.
Apart from something to eat or pints, there is no reason to go into town...(for the most part)

Exeggcute

Even the coffee shops abd cafes are closed at 5:30 or thereabouts. Except for Starbucks

pigtown

Cityslicker1 wrote: »

What's even more surprising is how no effort seems to be made to rejuvenate Limerick - What has ever been done to shake off the rough rep it has - absolutely Zero. More needs to be done to attract tourists & Irish people for weekends away etc. The city needs a serious injection of energy & life.

Regeneration, City of Culture 2014 and 2020, Limerick 2030, efforts are being made to secure a purple flag for the city.

You can argue about how successful these initiatives have been but you can't say people aren't trying.

Garry123

Catch 22, people say shop etc are closed after x o'clock, shops etc close after x o'clock because they say there is nobody in town.

Mc Love

Galway is more town like - go to Dublin after 6 and its mostly if not the very same

dave 27

If limerick had streets as small and concentrated as Galway it would always feel like a buzz there too. Limerick has wider streets and taller buildings and a bigger city centre so it's going to always feel like that until we get more tourists

Silentcorner

Cityslicker1 wrote: »

I was in Galway on Sunday up to 9pm and the place was so vibrant and busy with all the restaurants on Quay street packed & buskers and street entertainers up to Eyre Sq. The majority of people on the street were tourists but in general I find Galway has such a cosmopolitan feel day & night - with all types of people. I have to say Cork has a similar atmosphere & Dublin being the capital even busier again.

It's frustrating how dead Limerick is with nothing going on. I believe Limerick's image problem is one of the main reasons you rarely hear people going for a weekend away to Limerick city & the obvious lack of tourists on the streets. Even during the day there's a very local feel with no real variety of different types of people almost like a small country town. Considering Limerick is the 3rd largest urban area in the country it's shocking how an average day in the city centre does not reflect this.

What's even more surprising is how no effort seems to be made to rejuvenate Limerick - What has ever been done to shake off the rough rep it has - absolutely Zero. More needs to be done to attract tourists & Irish people for weekends away etc. The city needs a serious injection of energy & life.

There are a number of issues you have correctly raised there.

One, there is nothing to do in the city centre after 6pm apart from events in St Marys, Belltable...which are too small and too spread apart to have any impact on footfall...there are no cafes open after 6 also apart from Starbucks...it is a definite problem.

Two, Limericks image problem is deeply ingrained in Irish people, there is little you can do, LCOC 2014 was supposed to redefine the city but Irish media were having none of it...Limericks image problem is also deeply ingrained in a percentage Limerick people...I cannot fathom why people would not go into the city centre for walks/runs even, in the evening time we are all no more than 10 min from the city centre nothing stopping anyone...that alone would go a long way to adding to the footfall....its actually a nice city to walk/run around...

Three, there is still a body of people working in Irish tourism who advise tourists not to come to Limerick despite a lot of work by local people...it is a much cleaner city than other Irish Cities, it is also safer than most...

Four, we have to come to terms with the fact that a lot of tourists are happier walking around a place like Bunratty/Galway than Limerick city, nothing to be ashamed of, tourists are like herds...good luck to them...

Five, Bord Failte and Shannon Dev have no idea how to market the city, they should accept that Limerick does not nor will ever cater for the masses, in my opinion, we should focus on the rich history and heritage of the city but this will only ever bring people that appreciate both, a lot of Irish people do not fall into that bracket...

Six, we need to stop comparing ourselves to Galway, we will never have the dependency Galway has for tourism...for whatever reason...in my opinion, this is one industry any city would not want to depend on....

geotrig

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

Last Saturday you had Inter Milan V Celtic on Thomond Park at 7 and Imelda May in King John's Castle at 9. Lots of tourists and day trippers around.

I'm sure there were other things going on too.

yes there was a nice buzz around the place and some places seemed like they where open that small bit later but the activity was nice .

Outside of that there is no reason to go to town with your family in the evening. there is nothing open(outside of restaurants ) except starbucks as mentioned and that has limited seating ,the river front seems to be used /admired by more foreigners living here than us and without them it would be like a ghost town.
i think the city needs a few things that we had in the past but need to be retaught so they could work.

hangout for kids /teenagers more than 1 possibly
cinema /entertainment area , it would have to have something to draw you there, imax where duness is !!!!
some precentage of shops to be open / remain in the evening ...ive noticed this in a places that have activity each was different some where mainly food type shops ,others clothes shops but without other reasons for people to go the city that may be pointless.

we need things that can be done on a whim and not planned /booked months in advance !

geotrig

Silentcorner wrote: »

Limericks image problem is also deeply ingrained in a percentage Limerick people...I cannot fathom why people would not go into the city centre for walks/runs even, in the evening time we are all no more than 10 min from the city centre nothing stopping anyone...that alone would go a long way to adding to the footfall....its actually a nice city to walk/run around...

Four, we have to come to terms with the fact that a lot of tourists are happier walking around a place like Bunratty/Galway than Limerick city, nothing to be ashamed of, tourists are like herds...good luck to them...


..

2 good point ! some tourists come here and always will ,but we should focus on drawing our own to the city before we worry about that .

Stephenc66

geotrig wrote: »

twe need things that can be done on a whim and not planned /booked months in advance !

geotrig wrote: »

2 good point ! some tourists come here and always will ,but we should focus on drawing our own to the city before we worry about that .

In agreement with this, if a city has a vibrant heart it attracts people.

I believe Limerick is alive and well but unfortunately, living, socializing and shopping in the Suburbs.

When the crash came and many of the high street shops with two locations in Limerick had to make a choice they chose to keep the the units in the shopping centers open. A sound commercial decision.

It will take a very brave ballsy move by the council to even get them to consider opening in the city center again. And it is these chains that provide the life blood for the smaller business to survive.

who_ru

LIT should have been located in the city centre, that would have made an enormous impact on city life. The run down Georgian buildings should have attracted tax breaks for renovation and converted to student apts, this was a decision that was within the grasp of local Limerick people and for some reason that is completely beyond my comprehension they decided to locate the LIT more or less in the countryside as well as the accompanying student accommodation. Madness. BTW I am not a Limerick person.

I agree with other comments made here, the simply reason why the city centre is so dead is because the local authorities and business's have made it an irrelevant space at night time. Cork city is about 1 million times more cosmopolitan than Limerick.

johnnyryan89

who_ru wrote: »

LIT should have been located in the city centre, that would have made an enormous impact on city life. The run down Georgian buildings should have attracted tax breaks for renovation and converted to student apts, this was a decision that was within the grasp of local Limerick people and for some reason that is completely beyond my comprehension they decided to locate the LIT more or less in the countryside as well as the accompanying student accommodation. Madness. BTW I am not a Limerick person.

I agree with other comments made here, the simply reason why the city centre is so dead is because the local authorities and business's have made it an irrelevant space at night time. Cork city is about 1 million times more cosmopolitan than Limerick.

It's only a 20/25 min walk from the city centre out to LIT which isn't that far away, it's about the same distance as UCC is from the city centre in Cork.

moleyv

johnnyryan89 wrote:

It's only a 20/25 min walk from the city centre out to LIT which isn't that far away, it's about the same distance as UCC is from the city centre in Cork.

You could leap frog from UCC to the city centre in 10 mins.

johnnyryan89

moleyv wrote: »

You could leap frog from UCC to the city centre in 10 mins.

Unless the people in Cork walk faster than us they both take roughly the same time to walk the same distance.

Poxyshamrock

What ever happened to late night shopping in Limerick city centre? I saw an old newspaper recently which had an ad for Arthur's Quay shopping centre. It was open until 9pm on Thursday and Friday. Even Sails was open til 9pm! :pac:

iguana

An File wrote: »

What busker would feel safe setting up in the middle of the stumbling herd outside Turkuaz and Top Pizza?

Actually my dad does quite a bit.:p

Cookiemunster

who_ru wrote: »

LIT should have been located in the city centre, that would have made an enormous impact on city life. The run down Georgian buildings should have attracted tax breaks for renovation and converted to student apts, this was a decision that was within the grasp of local Limerick people and for some reason that is completely beyond my comprehension they decided to locate the LIT more or less in the countryside as well as the iaccompanying student accommodation. Madness. BTW I am not a Limerick person.

You may as well have said that UL should be located in the city centre. LIT was established by the Limerick VEC in it's current location in 1975. It didn't become an RTC until 1993 and didn't become an IT until 1997. It was already there 20 years before it began to expand in the early 90s.

moleyv

johnnyryan89 wrote:

Unless the people in Cork walk faster than us they both take roughly the same time to walk the same distance.

It probably depends where in each campus you are and where you consider the centre. 10 mins from the gate on the western road to grand parade is fairly realistic.

panda100

iguana wrote:

Actually my dad does quite a bit.

Is your dad the panpipe guy iguana?

iguana

panda100 wrote: »

Is your dad the panpipe guy iguana?

No, a guitarist. He often goes out and busks by Nancy's/The Icon for the late night crowd on Fridays and Saturdays. He loves it.

MayoSalmon

Limerick is honestly the one town/city I have never had any interest going to. I guess the image problem was never really addressed but on a serious note what are the main things to do there?

johnnyryan89

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Limerick is honestly the one town/city I have never had any interest going to. I guess the image problem was never really addressed but on a serious note what are the main things to do there?

We've got beautiful roundabouts.

dave 27

I think some people are forgetting that limerick has a lot more going for it than just the dependency of tourists!
We have and I think it's fair to say one of the finest universities in the country with one of the finest training facilities in the country.
Our tourism is based around sport and rugby, talk to any fan base coming to limerick for a Heineken cup match and ask them would they prefer to be anywhere else on that night and see what they say, limerick has something very special that the corks and Galways would love to have, the previous poster is right who cares about any other place, we do what we want down here and build and grow how we see fit

johnnyryan89

dave 27 wrote: »

I think some people are forgetting that limerick has a lot more going for it than just the dependency of tourists!
We have and I think it's fair to say one of the finest universities in the country with one of the finest training facilities in the country.
Our tourism is based around sport and rugby, talk to any fan base coming to limerick for a Heineken cup match and ask them would they prefer to be anywhere else on that night and see what they say, limerick has something very special that the corks and Galways would love to have, the previous poster is right who cares about any other place, we do what we want down here and build and grow how we see fit

UL has some of the finest facilities academic and sporting wise in the country and it's only getting bigger and better with time. Just a pity they couldn't open the road to access it from Larkins Cross, would have made it a lot easier to get there from the Northside of the city.

tuxy

dave 27 wrote: »

I think some people are forgetting that limerick has a lot more going for it than just the dependency of tourists!
We have and I think it's fair to say one of the finest universities in the country with one of the finest training facilities in the country.
Our tourism is based around sport and rugby, talk to any fan base coming to limerick for a Heineken cup match and ask them would they prefer to be anywhere else on that night and see what they say, limerick has something very special that the corks and Galways would love to have, the previous poster is right who cares about any other place, we do what we want down here and build and grow how we see fit

Yes but this thread is about the centre of the city being a ghost town in the evenings. If you're not into the pub scene there is no reason to go near the centre at that time. This is not the case for most other cities I've been to.

sioda

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

We've got beautiful roundabouts.

Shhhh for God's sake we don't want every feicer knowing

Silentcorner

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Limerick is honestly the one town/city I have never had any interest going to. I guess the image problem was never really addressed but on a serious note what are the main things to do there?

You wouldn't be the only Irish person to feel that way...

There are loads of things to do...Limerick is still a small compact city centre, you could park your car up for the weekend...and get a nice hotel at a good rate...you could pick from the following...

Kayaking on the River Shannon
Visit King Johns Castle
Visit St Marys Cathedral - and graveyard!
Visit the Hunt Museum
Visit the Limerick City Museum (it is about to relocate)
Take a walking tour - highly recommended
Visit one or all of the many Art Galleries if that is your thing
Take in a match in Thomond Park (or visit the museum)
Take in a gig in Dolans Warehouse
Visit the 6 churches in the city, seriously...the legacy of a different era...
Visit the Frank McCourt Museum...nothing like a bit of misery on a wkend away...
Just walk around the riverfront and Georgian areas...

Best weekends to visit are, Culture night, Open House Weekend, Weekend of a Munster Rugby game, or weekend of a gig in King Johns Castle/Milk Market/UCH...altho most weekends are well worth it...

You need to leave the image problem go...you won't enjoy the city as much...

dave 27

What else do Irish cities have after 6pm? I'm living in the centre of Dublin and the only difference is there's a couple of city centre cinemas to go to and more theatres, pubs and restaurants are always going to be busy in limerick and the cities